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Class_ 

Book. * H<r- 



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CORfRiGHT DEPOSIT. 



Life Insurance 
Salesmanship 

By 

Thomas J. Henderson 

ii 

Grand Rapids, Mich. 



The Spectator Company 

Chicago Office : 135 William Street 

Insurance Exchange, YORK 

175 W. Jackson Blvd. INxSW I UKK 

1912 






Copyright 19 12 by 

THE SPECTATOR COMPANY 

New York 



#/ 



£> c> 



©CI.A316725 
^0/ 



Dedicates* 

TO THE 

GREAT INSTITUTION OF LIFE INSURANCE 

THE MOST POTENT FACTOR AT WORK TO-DAY IN THE 
GREAT CAUSE OF HUMAN UPLIFT 



What constitutes a salesman? 

Not one who merely has a goodly store of know- 
ledge 
Garnered in bookish form from freshman 

Through to senior days at college — 

Nor he who only is adorned 

Most spotlessly in latest-day apparel — 
Nor he who happens to be born 

In wealth, success's greatest peril. 

No! but broad, high-minded, noble man, 

Who daily drinks at nature's fountain-head 
Of knowledge, gained from contact with his fellow- 
man 
While struggling up life's pathway, by experience 
led. 

The man with faith in human powers endowed 
By Him who equally endows all men — 

Who by persistent application has avowed 

Himself, an industrious, honest, and ambitious 
man. 



CONTENTS 



I. 


Vocation .... 


1 


II. 


Ideals 


. 8 


III. 


Human Nature . 


. 16 


IV. 


Enthusiasm .... 


. 21 


V. 


Faith and Honesty 


. 27 


VI. 


Judgment .... 


35 


VII. 


Individuality 


. 41 


VIII. 


Concentration 


. 47 


IX. 


Systematic Application 


. 53 


X. 


Amplification 


. 50 


XI. 


Competition .... 


. 60 


XII. 


The Ethics of It 


. 65 


XIII. 


The Ethical Agent 

[vii] 


. 72 



Contents 



CHAPTER 

xiv. The Ethical Company 



xv. The Ethical Public . . .92 

xvi. Legislation 96 

xvii. Instalment Insurance . . 100 

xviii. assessmentism .... 105 

xix. A Policy as Property . . . 113 

xx. The Changing Public Attitude . 117 

The World Wonders Why . . 131 



PAGE 

85 



[viii] 



INTRODUCTION 

Salesmen may be occasionally born, but 
I am a firm believer in the fact that man 
is made through self-effort, self-improve- 
ment, and surrounding environment. 

" Necessity is the mother of invention/' 
All things for which the human mind is 
craving exist somewhere in nature. The 
fact that we are capable of desiring them 
is evidence of the existence. When you 
once get deeply seated in your mind a de- 
sire to attain to a certain position in life, 
you can, by a sufficient amount of study 
and application, attain to it. 

Helen Keller is the most striking ex- 
ample of the truth of the above state- 
ment. In infancy Nature robbed her of 
sight, hearing, and speech, and yet in the 

[ix] 



flntrobuction 



face of these seemingly insurmountable 
obstacles, the desire for attainment became 
seated in her mind sufficiently to enable 
her to surmount all obstacles and master 
one of the most difficult college courses in 
this country. 

When you and I, as able-bodied men and 
women, in the full possession of health, 
vigor, and all our faculties, see such at- 
tainments as these, where is our argument 
for the born salesman, — the ante-birth- 
endowed people who are steadily climbing 
the ladder of success while we are sitting 
idly by and deploring the fact that we were 
unfortunate in not being more liberally 
treated by Nature as she handed out to us 
our allotment of human faculties and 
possiblities? 

" He who wishes to walk in the most 
peaceful parts of life with serenity must 
screw himself up to resolution/' 

Awaken to the fact that the germs of 
success were planted in your brain; that 



flntro&uction 



they are there and are only awaiting the 
proper moistening and warming influences 
by action on your part to bring them into 
full development and prominence. 

What we think most, we do. What we 
do, we really are. Mind is the controlling 
force at work to-day in moulding and shap- 
ing careers, not only of individuals, but 
nations, and only in so far as you and I 
are able to keep abreast of the times and 
do our share are we worthy of attention 
from an ever rapidly advancing public. 

Having begun the work of selling life 
insurance under the most unfavorable con- 
ditions, and owing to my ignorance of the 
subject in hand, and my lack of apprecia- 
tion of the high calling of the vocation I 
was undertaking, I naturally labored under 
the greatest difficulties. As I turn and 
look backward through the lens of fifteen 
years of experience and development at my 
first experiences, I more fully appreciate 
the above statements, and I am much 

[xi] 



flntrobuction 



surprised that I was able to accomplish 
anything whatever, or that I had the cour- 
age to pursue the task in the face of such 
obstacles as I met — such as beginners will 
find strewn along their pathway. 

Therefore, my sympathy goes out to the 
beginner who sets out inexperienced and 
consequently unconscious of the great pos- 
sibilities of this, the noblest profession (or 
perhaps more accurately speaking, calling) 
of to-day. 

Now, as I recall the apologetic attitude 
in which I approached my prospective ap- 
plicant, and reflect with what keen delight 
business men (accustomed to being ap- 
proached) used to enjoy my embarrassment, 
I really wonder that I was able even to 
command a hearing, let alone the sale of 
any of my company's goods. 

Again, as I review those pioneer days, I 
can count the many men to whom I sold 
a one-thousand-dollar policy when I should, 
and could as well, and with the same effort, 

[xii] 



flntro&uction 



have sold a five- thousand or ten- thousand 
dollar policy. 

AVith the above experience fresh in mind 
and my full sympathy with the beginner, 
if the thoughts that follow will in any de- 
gree make your pathway more pleasant and 
your work a little easier, then the writer 
has been amply rewarded. 



Ixiii) 



LIFE INSURANCE SALESMANSHIP 



CHAPTER I 
VOCATION 

Advancement has been marked during 
the past decade, and I daresay that in no 
other business has it been so marked as in 
life insurance. Whoever dreamed as far 
back as ten years ago that life insurance 
would take its place among the professions? 
Yet to-day the heaviest mathematical 
course carried in many of our universities 
is life insurance. It appears among the 
courses of Yale, Harvard, and the Univer- 
sities of Michigan, Ohio, Illinois, Minnesota, 
Iowa, and Colorado. 

Life insurance has taken its permanent 

[i] 



%itc Insurance Salesmanship 

place among the professions and I venture 
to say that during the present century it 
Trill be the leading profession. You ask 
my authority? I answer, conditions, pre- 
sent and future. The other professions — 
medicine, law, dentistry, etc. — are becoming 
overstocked. Our American colleges are 
turning out fifteen thousand to twenty 
thousand physicians every year, while only 
two thousand to three thousand are required 
to fill the vacancies incurred. Throughout 
the United States to-day almost every coun- 
try crossroad has its college-trained physi- 
cian. Our cities and towns have an average 
of one physician to each two hundred in- 
habitants. This is one of the prevailing 
conditions. 

Here is another. A bright, promising 
young man will go to college and spend 
from four to six years, and as many thou- 
sands of dollars, in preparation for his 
chosen work. He graduates with honors, 
chooses his location, hangs out his 

[2] 



location 



"shingle," and then sits in his office by 
the day, by the week, the month, yes, by 
the year, waiting for a call for his ser- 
vices. Then he spends the balance of his 
life in practising out a livelihood. 

While in conversation with a prominent 
physician of a large city a short time ago, 
he stated to me that the physicians of the 
city of Chicago during the previous year 
had averaged an income of but five hun- 
dred dollars; the lawyers, four hundred 
dollars. He stated that he knew of bright 
young men who had left college, located 
in Chicago, and had not taken in to exceed 
one hundred dollars in three years. This 
and other prevailing conditions have turned 
the minds of bright, hustling, energetic, and 
ambitious young men toward life insurance 
as a vocation. 

Life insurance is just in its infancy. We 
have been selling life insurance in the 
United States for nearly seventy years and 
less than fifty per cent, of the insurable 

[3] 



Xite Unsurance Salesmansbip 

risks are insured. Public education along 
this line is just in its prime. Never have 
the public understood the benefits and needs 
of insurance so well as they do to-day. 
Never was so much insurance bought by the 
masses. Every year swells the rolls of the 
companies' policyholders with the names 
of the moderately-living and sturdier classes 
— the very cream of insurance risks. These 
conditions indicate to the bright and far- 
seeing young man the many attractions of 
life insurance as a coming vocation. 

Every profession has its drawbacks and 
requirements. In the professions of medi- 
cine, law, and dentistry, you must invest 
money and time in preparation and then 
await the demand of the public for your 
individual services. In commercial lines 
you must have capital to invest and then 
put your brain and time behind it for 
results. 

Life insurance requires none of this capi- 
tal. Your brain and energy are your capi- 

[4] 



location 



tal. You can take your goods to the public 
and display their merits. In the other 
vocations your success is largely measured 
by the value that others place upon your 
services. In insurance your success is 
measured almost entirely by the amount of 

EARNEST HUSTLE and good COMMON-SENSE 

you put into the business. These condi- 
tions are what are drawing the minds of 
our leading men in all other professions 
and vocations into the channels of life in- 
surance as a future life-work. Everything 
is favorable to place it among the leading 
vocations. 

The successful salesman of insurance is 
an expert of the highest type, — one who 
must not only be able to supply the de- 
mand for his goods, but must be able to 

CREATE this DEMAND. 

No other vocation to-day gives one such 

freedom of action and choice of field in 

which to labor. You are at liberty to 

choose your territory. You select the class 
[5] 



%ttc ITnsurance Salesmanship 

of people to whom you present your goods. 
You plan your work as an architect his 
building. You determine the hours of 
your labor and are recompensed accord- 
ingly. It is true philanthropy. No greater 
benefit can be bestowed upon the human 
race than to assist the individual to judi- 
ciously practise frugality and providen- 
tially provide for old age and its increasing 
needs. 

If every wage-earner of this country 
could be persuaded to invest one tenth 
of his or her annual earnings in endow- 
ment insurance as a savings for old age, 
in twenty years there would not be a 
poorhouse in this country. 

Such a work is possible; such a work 
would be true philanthropy. The prac- 
tical is what the masses are hungering for 
in life's struggle. Not alms, but assistance 
in earning and saving for future emer- 
gencies. With the evolution of social prog- 
ress some such philanthropic move will 

[6] 



Docation 



be inaugurated, — some practical system 
whereby the smallest wage-earner may con- 
tribute to his or her future independently 
of conditions. 



[7] 



OHAPTEE II 
IDEALS 

The man who spends his time in dream- 
ing of ideals is no longer reckoned with in 
these strenuous times. 

This is a busy age of thought and action, 
yet the men who have achieved the great- 
est success are those who set out early in 
life's struggle with high and lofty ideals, 
and have climbed steadily and persistently 
toward them. 

The young man who sets out in life with- 
out a fixed ideal toward which to strive 
is afloat in a craft with no rudder with 
which to guide it. With no ideal toward 
which to aim, your efforts will be buffeted 

about by every wave of turmoil and struggle, 

[8] 



fl&eals 

by every breeze of idleness, and you are 
likely to be carried from your course with 
the drift of time. 

In this great ocean of human action you 
must grip firmly the tiller of your craft 
and guide it straight toward your ideal or 
it will be carried on with the great tide 
of human inactivity and languor. Life is 
one continuous struggle, and the strides of 
your success are measured by the firmness 
with which you grasp the tiller of your 
craft, and the correctness with which you 
read from the log-book of time your course 
on this great ocean of human endeavor. 

In this age of great activity you cannot 
subsist alone on ideals, but experience 
demonstrates that the greatest achieve- 
ments have been wrought by the men who 
held the highest and most lofty ideals as 
an end, but not a means, in their work. 

After all is said and done, life's struggle 
is not worth the effort unless your ideal 
has been at least partially achieved. The 
[9] 



Xife Unsurance Salesmanship 

breadth of your character and your useful- 
ness will be determined by the scope of the 
ideals to which you give allegiance. Do 
not set out to sell a policy with the com- 
mission to be earned as your ideal. Those 
who started with this ideal have fallen by 
the w^ayside. 

Consider your prospect's conditions and 
fit him in presenting your policy. In this 
way the scope of your usefulness will be 
increased; your character will be broad- 
ened, you will scatter broadcast the seeds 
of usefulness from which you will reap a 
future harvest. When you are in competi- 
tion with another agent you must firmly 
believe and know that your policy is the 
best for your prospective buyer. If you are 
blinded to all but the premium you will 
lose. 

There must be within yourself that 
honest conviction of right and truth or 
your scope of usefulness will be nar- 
rowed down to the sphere of failure. 

[10] 



IT&eals 

Do you question the high calling of your 
vocation? If so, stop work long enough 
to convince yourself of this fact at once. 
Otherwise your scope of usefulness will be 
curbed to a small sphere. Do you hesi- 
tate in the work and choose easy prospects? 
You are curbing your usefulness. The most 
difficult tasks are those from which we de- 
rive the most pleasure when they are accom- 
plished. Do you fear that your opponent 
or your prospect may know more than your- 
self about your mission? If so, approach 
him eagerly; determine never to leave him 
until you are the richer by what he has 
been able to give you. 

Once you are self-converted as to the 
superiority of your work, your company, 
and its policies, nothing can daunt you 
or change you from your set course. 

Are you doing anything for society? 

Look with me for a moment into this great 

field of life-insurance work and you will 

scarcely believe what you see. The. brii- 

[111 



%ifc insurance Salesmansbip 

liancy and warmth of its sunbeams are in- 
describable. Thousands, yes, millions of 
homes are lighted, warmed, and cheered by 
its beams. The aged look to it in gratitude 
as their endowments mature for comforts 
in their declining days. Children bask in 
its beams as they secure their education 
in place of a destitute orphanage. Widows 
bow in reverence to the great vocation that 
has made possible the education of their 
children and an independent livelihood 
through co-operation with their former 
protectors. As this great illuminating sun 
steadily and majestically moves on its 
course, the comfort, happiness, and sun- 
shine radiating from it permeate the re- 
motest corners of this great land. Poets 
have said, and will continue to say, many 
beautiful things. Sages and philosophers 
have revealed to us wonders by their re- 
searches. Financiers have proven them- 
selves giants in amassing wealth and have 

seen a lifetime's savings pass from them in 
[12] 



fl&eals 

a single day, but with all the poet's com- 
mand of language lie cannot describe the 
full beauty of this you behold. 

The philosopher in all his great researches 
lias failed to discover a future sustenance 
for your widow and mine — for your child 
and mine — after we are gone. The giant 
financier on his death-bed bequeaths his 
millions to his wife and children and 
through their lack of experience in hand- 
ling them they vanish like a shadow and 
in their wake follow suffering, want, and 
destitution. Aye, to the great principles 
of life insurance alone remains the system 
through which future comfort to dependent 
loved ones is made possible after we are 
gone. 

Can you imagine a more beautiful vision? 
Beautiful indeed! What part have you 
had in it? Ah! stop and consider your 
calling. In how many homes have you 
ministered these future comforts during the 
past year? 

[13] 



%itc Unsurance Salesmanship 

Gracious is the one who aids the weak 
in bearing their burdens, but wisely, gen- 
erously gracious is he who guides us in 
preventing the burdens from falling upon 
our loved ones. 

This is your part in the beautiful vision 
which you have just seen. Do you lack 
zeal in urging your prospect to insure? 
Think of his loved ones. Does your pros- 
pect hesitate? Paint for him this beautiful 
picture and he and his loved ones will bless 
you and yours in years to come. 

Hitch your ideal to something high; so 
high that every time you gaze upon it you 
are compelled to look upward, to reach 
higher in your endeavors to grasp it; so 
high that as you approach nearer it becomes 
brighter, larger, and more inspiring; so 
high that in your daily struggle to reach 
it you forget the petty annoyances and 
drawbacks as soon as they are overcome 
and press on to other tasks yet to be com- 
pleted in reaching your goal, rather than 
[14] 



Ufceals 

stop and spend valuable time reflecting on 
achievements won; so high that as you near 
the end of life's work your comforting star 

Will be THIS IDEAL REALIZED IN AT LEAST 
SOME SMALL DEGREE. 



[15] 



CHAPTEE III 
HUMAN NATURE 

No one factor plays so important a part 
or contributes so much to the success of a 
salesman as a correct knowledge of human 
nature. 

It has long been an established scientific 
fact that there are no two persons exactly 
alike; mentally, morally, or physically. In 
fact, scientists tell us that no two objects 
are exactly alike. Two grains of sand or 
blades of grass differ materially in com- 
position and form when subjected to the 
test of a strong enough glass. 

How much less likely then are we to find 
two human beings of the same mental tem- 
perament? It is, therefore, impossible to 
[16] 



Ibuman mature 



approach two men in exactly the same man- 
ner and create equally successful impres- 
sions upon them. If you have made a 
study of human nature what a correct 

INDEX TO ONE'S CHARACTER YOU WILL FIND 

in his face. His every mood is recorded 
there. 

"Without words our face expresses joy 
and grief, love and hatred, contempt and 
adoration, cruelty and compassion, delirium 
and poetry, hope and fear, voluptuousness 
and bashfulness, in fact, every desire and 
every fear of the multiform life which 
issues each instant from the supreme organ, 
the brain." 

Years and centuries before there was a 
printed language the savage had been cog- 
nizant of the fact that he could read mind 
and character from that open book, the 

FACE. 

Without giving any particular study or 
thought to this subject, you meet a certain 
person and at once you unconsciously de- 



[17] 



%ifc Ifnsurance Salesmanship 

tect in his countenance certain interlineal 
expressions or marks which enable you to 
recognize him ever after as an individual 
alone, and different from all others whom 
you have met. If these demarkations are 
so prominently discernible without any 
special effort or attention, then how much 
more accurately can we discern and de- 
termine one's character by a careful and 
detailed study and observation of his ex- 
pression and actions. 

Have you ever set out for a certain busi- 
ness man's office with a definite plan of 
action in mind and immediately you en- 
tered his presence and got a first glance 
at him changed your plans, or perhaps 
abandoned them entirely? What caused 
you to change? From what you had heard 
of your man without seeing him you had 
built in your mind a man with certain 
facial expressions as an index to his char- 
acter. Upon entering his presence you at 

once discovered that his index had been 
[18] 



ftmman nature 



inaccurately road by your informer and you 
halted in your proceedings long enough to 
re-read, this index. 

Do not pass this chapter lightly, but 
ponder well its importance in your work. 
Remember the mind is the seat of all 
thought. Thought is the signal for action. 
As truly as a mirror accurately reflects 
your countenance, that countenance reflects 
every thought of your mind. 

With care and study in your daily con- 
tact with people you can learn to read the 
thoughts of your prospect from his counte- 
nance as accurately as though they were 
expressed on a printed page. His eyes, 
mouth, chin, nose, ears, color of hair, etc., 
are all pages of the book of his character 
as accurately recorded as the phonograph 
records the sounds of his voice. 

As you go further you will soon be able 

you will find there are certain fixed features 

indicating certain traits of character that 

always stand for the same trait in what- 

[19] 



Xffe insurance Salesmanship 

ever individual they are found, — such as 
thin, firmly-set lips indicating caution and 
closeness of speech; the heavy-set lower 
jaw indicating stability and firm determina- 
tion, and the opposite conditions registering 
exactly opposite traits. 

As you go further you will soon be able 
to read from this book at a glance one who 
leads, and one who follows; one who ac- 
cepts arguments as presented without ques- 
tion, and one who questions all things, 
even established facts. You w T ill know the 
frank, open countenance in which you read 
your man's thought even before he ex- 
presses it in w r ords, and the evasive, secre- 
tive faces with which you must combat 
before you really determine just the atti- 
tude of your man regardless of his state- 
ments. As you become more expert in this 
countenance-reading you will save valuable 
time in knowing whether or not your work 
is counting. 

[20] 



CHAPTER IV 

ENTHUSIASM 

Enthusiasm is that invisible force 
within one's self which radiates out- 
WARD, permeating the surroundings of the 
speaker and lending an unconscious force 
in advance of utterance to one's expression, 
thus preparing the listener for a proper re- 
ception of the ideas conveyed, just as sun- 
shine and shower prepare the soil for the 
reception of seed to be germinated. Just 
as the storage-battery holds in reserve gen- 
erated power to be drawn on in times of 
emergency, so the successful salesman holds 
in reserve surplus energy upon which he 
can draw to meet extraordinary occasions. 
Owing to the fact that the salesman must 

[21] 



Xife tfnsurance Salesmanship 

create in the mind of the buyer a desire for 
the goods to be sold, this reserve force must 
be ever present and available. You must 

BE EVER READY TO FURNISH THE ENTHUSIASM 

for both seller and buyer ; must so radiate 
with this enthusiasm that the surrounding 
atmosphere of your buyer is permeated 
until he breathes, sees, and feels as you do 
and his feelings respond to your appeal. 

Enthusiasm is the one requisite to ac- 
complishment which cannot be supplanted 
by any other acquirement. The power of 
oratory lies in the enthusiasm of the 
speaker. It is the magnet that draws his 
audience into such close touch and unison 
and holds them spellbound almost at his 
will. It is enthusiasm that holds Edison 
in his laboratory sometimes for days with- 
out food or sleep, delving for new truths, 
It is the mother of all inventions, past and 
present. It is the motive power that has 
inspired every great author, inventor, and 

explorer. In fact, it is the germ of all 
[22] 



Enthusiasm 



construd iveness. It has swayed men, rulers, 
and nations. Napoleon was a human bundle 
of enthusiasm, daily surcharged from sur- 
roundings and achievements to such an 
extent that it fairly radiated from him in 
such quantities as to surcharge every one 
who came in contact with him. 

In no other vocation is this so essential 
a nucleus as in salesmanship. A book- 
keeper can go on day after day doing the 
tasks assigned and in his cold mechanical 
way perform the work, even though he dis- 
likes the work he is doing; but not so with 
the salesman. His whole system must 
radiate with the subject in hand. His en- 
thusiasm must reach out to the buyer with 
sufficient warmth and fire to arouse in him 
the desire to have the thing discussed. A 
salesman's success is in exact ratio to the 
enthusiasm with which he displays his 
goods. He must furnish enthusiasm for 
all parties concerned in the transaction. 

There is one real key to such enthusiasm 
[23] 



Xtte insurance Salesmansbip 

and that is a true self-belief in what 
you say; an inner consciousness of the 
truth of your every utterance and the merit 
of the goods displayed. Such enthusiasm 
banishes fear, removes doubt, causes one 
to forget self, and dims your vision to 
everything but the immediate task in hand 
and its ultimate success. 

Cannot you recall some personal experi- 
ence in which you took little interest in 
the things you were doing, or the person 
to whom you were talking? Did you make 
a sale? I fear not. Contrast this with 
another occasion in which your whole soul 
was thrown into the work. Did you meet 
with greater success? I venture the answer 
you did. Look at the daily failures around 
you. To what do you attribute them? 
With few exceptions they can be charged 
up to lack of enthusiasm in the work in 
hand. 

Did you ever solicit an applicant and 

fail to secure the application at the time, 
[24] 



jEntbustasm 



but leave your parly with the inward as- 
surance thai your solicitation was a success 
and the object ultimately won? Again, 
have you ever experienced just the opposite 
results, and regardless of temporary suc- 
cess felt that failure at a future date was 
inevitable? In the former case the storage- 
batteries were well filled and available. In 
the latter you made unsuccessful attempts 
to draw upon them for that much needed and 
vital force necessary to radiate, permeate, 
and regenerate the thoughts constantly 
passing in the mind of your listener, Per- 
haps inevitable conditions confronted you; 
conditions which could not possibly be over- 
come or expelled, even by drawing to the 
limit on this reserve force. If so, not en- 
thusiasm but judgment was lacking in this 
particular case. 

Be enthusiastic and honestly so. Con- 
vince your prospective buyer that you know 
your company and policies to be what you 

represent them to be. Enthusiasm can be 
[25] 



Xffe insurance Salesmanship 

acquired and developed just as heat can be 
generated and distributed as warmth. On 
one's ability to store up and give off this 
enthusiasm will depend largely his success 
or failure as a salesman. 



[26] 



CHAPTER V 

FAITH AND HONESTY 

The first and most vital essential to suc- 
cess is a well-grounded faith in yourself 
— in your ability to do. No one will place 

a HIGHER ESTIMATE UPON YOUR ABILITY 
THAN YOU DO YOURSELF. A HIGH VALUE OF 
SELF IS AN ESSENTIAL TO YOUR SUCCESS. 

At least ninety per cent, of the failures 
in all lines of work are due to lack of 
faith in one's ability to perform the task 
undertaken. 

Study yourself; find your weak and your 
strong traits; develop the weak ones; rely 
most firmly on the strong ones. Consider 
yourself at least up to the average man of 
your vocation. Determine to rise above 
this average as rapidly as possible. 

[27] 



Xife flnsurance Salesmanship 

Meet your prospective applicant feeling 
tliat you can inform him on your subject. 
Talk convincingly, deliberately, and in- 
telligently; avoid egotism and self-con- 
sciousness. 

Faith in your company and its goods 
must be implicit. You cannot inspire in 
others the faith that you do not possess, 
any more than you can convey to others 
knowledge that you have not. The earnest- 
ness OF YOUR APPEAL IS MORE OFTEN AC- 
CEPTED THAN IS THE APPEAL ITSELF. Faith 

in your work is the leaven that will per- 
meate the atmosphere of your field and 
lighten the temperament of your hearers. 

How sad to see a brilliant young man 
starting out in life go down to defeat be- 
cause he lacks faith in his ability to suc- 
ceed. How quickly is this self-sense of 
lack of fitness discerned by the man with 
whom you must labor. As unconsciously 
do you convey to your hearer any lack of 

self-confidence as does the rain-cloud con- 
[28] 



ifaitb an& 1foonest£ 



vey to earth the lightning flash. Your in- 
nermost fears and lack of faith in your 
own ability or value of the case in hand 
are plainly recorded in your very counte- 
nance, your every move and gesture. 

The atmosphere in which your pros- 
pect STANDS IS PERMEATED WITH YOUR 
PERSONALITY THE MOMENT YOU ENTER HIS 
PRESENCE. 

Step with me for a moment from your 
office or home into the open air. It is 
springtime; nature is alive on every hand; 
the trees are shooting forth their foliage; 
the grass and herbage are coming forth from 
their winter resting-places. The radiant 
sunbeams are warming, generating, and 
bringing to life all nature. How active! 
How exhilarating! How beautiful! As 
you gaze you ask, What is the cause? And 
in answer, comes the simple word, energy 
— pent-up energy. 

The trees and shrubs stored their sap 

over winter in the warm earth-covered 
[29] 



Xife flnsurance Salesmanship 

roots. The seed germs were stored the 
previous season and preserved in hiding. 
With spring comes the moistening rains, 
the warming sunshine, and all is life, beauty, 
and joy and gladness. Think of a whole 
vegetable and animal world so full of life 
and hustle. 

To you the question arises, Does energy 
end here? Oh, no, w 7 e still have human 
ener<?v, w T hich we more commonlv call zeal, 

01/ 7 «/ 7 

or enthusiasm. Expressions of faith in 
one's self and work. This faith has been 
stored in hiding during the days of devel- 
opment and only awaits the natural warm- 
ing, permeating, moistening influences of 
the activity of life's work to bring them 
forth into real life. How plainly this 
portrays the fact that success is due more 
to faith in one's self than to ability. 

Did you ever listen to a scholar who told 
you a great many truths that you had not 
known, but told them in such a droll, dry 

manner that you did not retain them? Na- 
[30] 



jfaltb anfc feonestg 



ture had labored in vain on this man. He 
had failed to drink in the radiant sunbeams 
until lie was overflowing with that w^arinth, 
life, and faith called enthusiasm. He 
lacked faith in self sufficient to put him in 
touch with nature's storehouse of self- 
confidence. 

Again, did you ever have another com- 
monplace man tell you something that you 
had always known, but tell it with such 
zeal and enthusiasm that his face fairly 
glowed with his subject and carried with 
his words such a radiance of warmth that 
they sank deeply into your very soul? 

This latter was a man of nature. He 
was basking daily in the radiant sunbeams 
of life and drinking deeply at the fountain 
of human energy-giving faith-power. His 
body and soul were in his work. He is a 
winner among men. 

Have you failed to interest men of other 
vocations in your work? If so, where was 
your soul when your body was making the 



[31] 



%ifc flnsurance Salesmanship 

attempt? Has some one since interested 
them for less than you offered? His soul 
was in his work. His faith radiated from 
his every word and action and permeated 
the innermost depths of his prospect's 
soul with the sincere conviction of his 
earnestness. 

The same moistening and warming in- 
fluences are necessary to germinate the 
desire lying dormant in the soul of every 
man with whom you come in contact as 
are necessary in nature to germinate the 
seed lying dormant in the ground. Your 
success will depend upon your living in 
such close communion with yourself and 
your work that you are constantly receiv- 
ing and storing up this life-giving faith- 
energy in such quantities that you can give 
it off again in the form of zeal and en- 
thusiasm, in such radiance as to warm the 
soul of your fellow-man and thus draw him 
closer to you in your work; not self-con- 
sciousness, but breadth of character and 

[32] 



jfaitb anfc feonestg 



SCOPE of faith will determine the extent 
to which you are capable in this great work. 

Once this self-faith is firmly grounded, 
resolve to make honesty of purpose the 
groundwork of all your undertakings. 

Ix all walks of life one's attitude 

TOWARD HIS FELLOW-MAN MEASURES TO A 
GREAT DEGREE HIS SUCCESS. 

Be honest and frank with your applicant; 
admit all just criticisms. Stand by the 
facts of the subject in hand. If you have 
in mind the welfare of your applicant he 
will soon discover it. This you can do 
without losing anything for yourself or 
your company. In fact, much is to be 
gained by such a course. 

Always remember that you represent both 
your applicant and your company. Let 
your methods be straightforward at all 
times. Step out into the open and by your 
attitude invite your applicant to join you. 
Honesty of purpose is quickly recognized 
and appreciated by those with whom you 



[33] 



%ttc flnsurance Salesmanship 

deal. Better to lose your cause by an 
honest and upright effort and hold the re- 
spect of those with whom you deal than 
to win by unfair means. 

Success means more than winning by 
any method. Many a temporary defeat 
has finally ended in permanent success. 
The ever-abiding self-consciousness that 
your faith is honestly founded on your 
ability to display the high merit of your 
goods so convincingly that your listener 
must buy is the great asset with which 
you must be possessed if you would purchase 
success as a life insurance salesman. 



[34] 



CHAPTER VI 
JUDGMENT 

Judgment is the balance-wheel which 
should regulate all our activities. Upon 
its development and constant application 
depend the success of all human under- 
takings. 

One hour's work directed by good judg- 
ment WILL ACCOMPLISH MORE THAN A 
MONTH OF WORK AT RANDOM. 

Knowledge judiciously applied is an in- 
vincible weapon in all fields of mental and 
physical activity. Again, silence as judi- 
ciously used is oftentimes as invincible. 
In short, upon your good judgment, or 

POOR JUDGMENT, DEPENDS YOUR SUCCESS OR 

FAILURE IN ALL WALKS OF LIFE. Good judg- 
[35] 



%itc ITnsurance Salesmansbtp 

uient makes you practical at all times and 
the lack of it makes you as impractical. 

In insurance salesmanship your judg- 
ment must ever be on the alert. You must 
know when to introduce your subject and 
when to retreat for a more opportune time. 
How many a good sale has been lost 
through misjudged conditions on the part 
of a salesman as to the opportune time to 
introduce the subject. 

There are certain times in which to ap- 
proach a business man is the grossest viola- 
tion of all business ethics and through such 
violation you perhaps forfeit all right to 
his attention at any future time. How 
much better to ask for a future hearing 
and retire carrying with you the respect 
of your applicant by having impressed 
upon his mind your consideration for this 
sanctity of business ethics. 

Not only must you use judgment in 
securing the interview, but you must con- 
tinue to apply that judgment throughout 
[36] 



■Ju&omcnt 



the entire interview. Follow your ap- 
plicant's conversation closely and judge 
accurately the opportune time for action. 

Many an application has been lost 
through the salesman not being able to 
judge the critical moment in which to write 
it. Never ask your applicant to render a 
decision until you are convinced that you 
have developed a favorable one. Close 
application and good judgment will enable 
you to determine the time. 

Avoid underestimating your applicant's 
ability to purchase. This is perhaps the 
most prevailing mistake in insurance sales- 
manship. Often the most experienced and 
successful salesmen are prone to talk a 
smaller amount than the applicant is able 
to buy and much less than would adequately 
correspond to the business income which 
he commands. 

The average person would much rather 

have you flatter him by overestimating his 

ability than to have you underestimate. 
[37] 



Xife Unsurance Salesmanship 

Should you discover that you have over- 
estimated you can reduce your figures much 
more gracefully than you can raise them 
if you have underestimated him. 

Again, your judgment must be alert in 
sizing up your man quickly and determin- 
ing the kind of policy best adapted to him, 
his family, and his business. It is true 
that the salesman generally sells the kind 
of contract which he presents, but it is 
also true that you will sell with the least 
effort the contract that best meets the 
condition and needs of your applicant. 

A few moments spent in conversation be- 
fore introducing your goods is sufficient for 
the average salesman in which to determine 
family and business conditions. At once 
you have these facts, regardless of the ap- 
plicant's opinion, you can soon convince 
him of the salient features of your contract 
which most vitally concern his particular 
conditions. 

Just as your grocer meets public fancy 
[38] 



5u&oment 



with choice packages of oatmeal, coffee, etc., 
the same brand that was previously scooped 
and weighed from the barrel, so are our 
most successful insurance salesmen dealing 
out the same and original protection in new 
and attractive packages such as corpora- 
tion insurance, partnership insurance, and 
trust funds for dependent ones. Life in- 
surance principles have not changed, but 
.salesmen must adopt terms more in accord 
with prevailing present-day conditions. Our 
business unit has changed. A very few 
years ago we measured the business of vari- 
ous firms and individuals by the unit thou- 
sands, but to-day our popular unit is the 
million. Only a comparatively few indi- 
viduals being able to come under the above 
unit, they combine forces and organize large 
corporations using the million unit by 
which to designate and measure their trans- 
actions. So must the up-to-date insurance 
salesman adjust his lines to meet these 

prevailing conditions. 
[39] 



Xife Ifnsurance Salesmansbip 

The salesmen who specialize are gen- 
erally very successful, but the salesman 

Who GENERALIZES WITH JUDGMENT IS more 

often and in a greater degree successful. 

Above all things use judgment in choos- 
ing your place in which to solicit It 
is seldom wise to solicit more than one 
person at a time or in public places. 
Insurance salesmanship is a battle of will- 
power between the applicant and the sales- 
man, and invariably the forces are against 
the salesman. Therefore, the task of over- 
coming or persuading more than one at a 
time is too great to be successful. 

Take your applicant alone, and if pos- 
sible away from all that may detract from 
his whole, undivided attention to the subject 
in hand. Conduct your canvass in such 

A MANNER THAT TO FOLLOW YOU REQUIRES 
HIS CLOSELY-APPLIED ATTENTION. 



[40] 



CHAPTER VII 
INDIVIDUALITY 

In the previous chapter we had pointed 
out to us how singularly individual every- 
thing and every person is. Let us now 
consider how essentially necessary this in- 
dividuality is and what an important part 
it fills in the catalogue of essentials to 
success. 

Individuality is man's only identity. 

Any labor you perform is accredited to 
you only as you stamp it with your indi- 
viduality, your particular way of doing it. 
One orator states a fact to you. You retain 
it and make it a part of your storehouse of 
knowledge, while you may have heard the 
same fact dozens of times before and passed 

[41] 



Xife flnsurance Salesmanship 

it, neither accepting nor rejecting it. What 
caused you to accept and retain it at this 
particular time? Merely the individuality 
of the one expressing it. The same holds 
true of authors. As you read you are 
constantly impressed with the individuality 
of the writer, though you may never have 
seen him or heard of him before. 

We are in the midst of the greatest age 
of individualism this world has ever known. 

Politically, socially, and religiously we 
are in an individual epoch-making period. 
Never before has the individual taken so 
prominent a position, — a position not to 
be subordinated to State or Church. We 
are just now witnessing the State ad- 
ministrations of individuals, which have 
subordinated almost to annihilation party 
domination. In the nation we recently 
experienced the Roosevelt administration, 
rather than a Republican administration. 
In churches to-day you are listening to the 

individual scholar who is daily disentang- 
le] 



1[n&tv>t&ualtt2 



ling his thoughts from among the cords 
of creed and dogma which for years have 
bound and almost strangled individual 
thought and utterance. 

In this age of seemingly daring individual 
growth you see almost daily those who dare 
utter this individualism being tried for 
heresy. But this does not stifle the growth 
of their individuality, nor yet lessen the 
force of the searching truths of their 
utterance. 

Individuality dominates all human 
progress, even to the physical. 

The food you eat does you no good unless 

your digestive and secretive organs work 

it over into your own flesh and blood — in 

other words, stamp your individuality upon 

it. All the knowledge you gather and store 

up is of no particular value to you unless 

you work it over and digest it mentally, 

and stamp it with your own individuality. 

In short, you cannot avail yourself of the 

benefit of anything unless you regenerate 
[43] 



Xffe Insurance Salesmanship 

it and bring it forth bearing the stamp of 
your individuality. 

Thus the importance of personality or 
individuality in the work of salesmanship. 

Do not try to subordinate your own ideas 
and plans to those of others. Instead de- 
velop a strong individuality. Give range 
to your ideas and plans. Try them. Im- 
prove upon them, and do not be satisfied 
with anything short of a strong, robust, 
individual growth. Even though you hold 
the position of an inferior and are supposed 
to carry out the plans of a superior you 
need not stifle your individuality in doing it. 

There is an individuality in obeying as 
well as in commanding. 

In no other vocation to-day does this in- 
dividuality count for so much as in insur- 
ance salesmanship. Not one person in a 
thousand with whom you deal will know 
anything of your company or its manage- 
ment. Therefore, if any business is done 
it is done with the individual salesman. 

[44] 



fnMvftnaltts 



Have you ever been canvassed for some- 
thing you really knew to be what you 
wanted and did not buy merely because 
you were not favorably impressed with the 
personality of the agent? How often you 
see one salesman abandon a certain field 
as a failure and declare that no business 
can be done there, and then another sales- 
man follow him with the same goods and 
make a marvellous success of the former's 
field of failure. 

Develop individuality. Do not try to 
imitate some successful salesman. In- 
variably you will make a dismal failure. 
If he has given you any good ideas digest 
them; make them over; stamp them with 
your own individuality and then apply 
them. As a salesman you should endeavor 
to make your personality most pleasing and 
agreeable. 

Allow your individualism to reach out 
and meet your applicant a good half-way. 
If you have a common ground, find it as 



[45] 



Xife Insurance Salesmanship 

soon as possible and conduct your cam- 
paign upon IT. 

Success is not in the surrounding ele- 
ments, but in the man — a germ of indi- 
viduality. 



[46] 



CHAPTER VIII 

CONCENTRATION 

The modern greenhouse is an instrument 
for concentrating sunbeams. By use of 
the sunglass a sufficient number of sun- 
beams can be concentrated into so small a 
space as to cause the most intense heat, 
sufficient to fire any ignitable substance 
or reduce to white heat the most solid 
substances. Our common rain-shower is 
condensed or concentrated vapor. Our 
electrical heating and lighting plants are 
instruments for concentrating rays of modi- 
fied light. Our ocean steamers, railroad 
trains, and factories are all propelled by 
concentrated energy in modified forms. 
The concentration of air-waves produces 

[47] 



%itc Insurance Salesmanship 

our sound and light. In short, the whole 
universe is only concentrated forces in vari- 
ous forms, such as animal life, plant life, 
ocean, minerals, etc., each of which repre- 
sents different degrees of concentration in 
nature's forces, all of which tends to prove 
that there is nothing so tangible but that 
it is susceptible to the forces concentrated 
upon it, and that its individuality or iden- 
tity can be changed if sufficient force is 
concentrated upon it. 

Just so with the human mind. There is 
no one so strong, physically or mentally, 
but that sufficient force can be concentrated 
upon him to mould or change his state of 
mind relative to a certain idea. 

That man does not exist that could not 
be persuaded to buy life insurance could 
the proper forces or influences be concen- 
trated upon him. Thus the effectiveness of 
concentration of efforts in soliciting. 

" One of the most common causes of fail- 
ure is that too often men do not appreciate 

[48] 



Concentration 



the importance of the task before tliem — 
the particular job of work right at hand. 
Instead of concentrating their ability on 
whatever they are given to do they put only 
part of it on that job and the balance on 
the job they think they ought to have. The 
weakening effect of this mental division is 
usually disastrous/' 

There is always a medium through which 
every man can be reached. There is some 
one who is in close touch with him and 
whose influence is effective. The successful 
solicitor is able to find this medium and 
so effectively concentrate forces upon his 
prospect as to vaporize all obstacles. 

There is no fixed rule by which to de- 
termine the most effective way of attaining 
this end. Much depends upon the vocation 
and locality of the prospect. 

In every community there is some one 

who can act as a medium through which 

to concentrate forces. The first requisite 

to a successful solicitation is the finding 
4 [49] 



Xtfe flnsurance Salesmanship 

of this medium, then to form a combination 
of forces such that when concentrated upon 
your prospect they will be felt. Combine 
your expert knowledge of insurance with 
the local influence of some one, then con- 
centrate all efforts to this single object with 
such force as to bring the desired results. 

Did you ever wield the axe against a tree 
which resisted every stroke, or force the 
spade into soil that seemed set against all 
intrusion? Your average prospect offers 
every possible resistance to your efforts 
upon the start. And how often is he suc- 
cessful in warding off your single-handed 
efforts and in compelling you to form a 
combination of forces and concentrate them 
upon him. 

Now as to the best method of finding 

the sources through which to concentrate 

forces. As stated, there is no fixed rule for 

finding this source or medium. In some 

localities the banker is the most effective 

one through which to work. This is es- 
[50] 



Concentration 



pecially true iii the small country town 
where the rural communities are to be 

reached. 

In addition to being a medium through 
which to reach the prospect the bank fur- 
nishes a ready place in which to discount 
notes which must be taken from the aver- 
age farmer, in payment of first premium, 
thus facilitating the work by mailing 
policy to insured and selling notes at the 
bank. 

In conjunction with this you will find 
that team work is more effective than single- 
handed efforts. This again demonstrates 
the effectiveness of concentrated efforts 
upon the prospect. Two minds working in 
unison and concentrated upon a third inva- 
riably overcome where too often a sin- 
gle-handed and more even combat ends in 
defeat for the solicitor. 

I would say to managers, find a good, 

magnetic solicitor and closer and form with 

him and your local solicitors such combma- 
[51] 



Xife Unsurance Salesmanship 

tions as above mentioned and results are 
sure to be forthcoming. 

Another essential in the concentration of 
forces is a limited territory. Concen- 
trate your efforts to a small field. You 
cannot make too thorough a canvas in order 
to get the most effective results. Do not 
be in a hurry to leave a field once you 
get to soliciting. Plant the seeds and give 
them time to grow, but hoe incessantly 
while they are growing. The more you hoe, 
the better will be your crop. Your pros- 
pects must see others buying. More and 
more are the companies parcelling out 
smaller pieces of territory and encouraging 
the intensity of cultivation. They can see 
the improvement both in quantity and 
quality of business being produced. 



[52] 



CHAPTER IX 

SYSTEMATIC APPLICATION 

The few thoughts expressed in the fore- 
going pages will prove of avail to you only 
as they may assist you in putting system 
into your work; only as they stimulate you 
to greater application ; only as they impress 
upon your mind this one great fact — the 

ONLY OBJECT IN STORING UP KNOWLEDGE IS 
THE APPLICATION THAT MAY BE MADE OF IT 
IN OUR STRUGGLE FOR ADVANCEMENT; in Our 

upward climb as we ascend round by round 

the great ladder of human endeavor. 

Keep ever prominent in your mind the 

fact that it is not what you may possess, 

but what you apply in life's work that 

avails you anything. The average clerk, 
[53] 



%itc Unsurance Salesmansbip 

bookkeeper, etc., is successful because his 
employer insists upon regular hours of 
work, system, and routine. 

Learn to be your own master and to 
command your own time. Demand a daily 
accounting of time spent and results ob- 
tained. Plan your work at least one month 
in advance and hold yourself accountable 
at the close of each day for results. Sys- 
tematize your application of effort. Con- 
sider every minute as so many cents ; every 
hour as so many dollars invested in your 
business. Reckon the returns on your in- 
vestment and if they are not adequate, 
determine why. 

Learn early the importance of concen- 
tration of effort. Confine your efforts to 
a small field. Cultivate your prospects as 
a husbandman cultivates his corn-field. 
Humanity is susceptible to the laws of 
association. Man craves fellowship. Each 
applicant written lends an additional thread 

to the great cord of human fellowship with 
[54] 



Systematic Bppllcation 



which you are binding up perhaps the 
future destiny of this portion of humanity. 
Other things being equal, the sales- 
man WHO SEES THE GREATEST NUMBER OF 
PEOPLE SELLS THE MOST INSURANCE. 

You must show your goods and create 
the demand for them. This can only be 
done by going to your prospects. Steady, 
systematic application warmed by a cheer- 
ful personality and moistened by occasional 
showers of good fellowship will temper the 
winds of adversity and create the ideal 
atmosphere over your field of labor and 
produce the conditions for an abundant 
crop. 

Take away with you this one dominating 

thought — THAT IT WAS ONLY THROUGH CON- 
STANT AND SYSTEMATIC APPLICATION THAT 
ALL GREAT ACHIEVEMENTS IN LIFE WERE WON. 

That in proportion as we delve and apply 
our effort we will attain success in this, 
the greatest of vocations — life insurance 

SALESMANSHIP. 

[55] 



CHAPTER X 
AMPLIFICATION 

Do you ever try to enlarge upon your 
field of endeavor? Are you satisfied with 
the same old routine of daily rounds? 
" Variety is the spice of life." Monotony 
saps the vitality of expansion. 

Each day's work should be an amplifica- 
tion of the preceding day. Try this ex- 
periment for one week. Start out on 
Monday morning with the purpose of in- 
creasing the amount for which you solicit 
your prospect at least one thousand each 
day. Use caution in selecting each day's 
prospects, being sure that each prospect is 
financially able to pay for the amount to 

be solicited that day. This plan will re- 
[56] 



Simplification 



quire good judgment in arranging each 
day's work as well as an accurate knowledge 
of your prospect's condition, and above all, 
systematic planning at least one week in 
advance. 

Under such a system one's grow- th cannot 
be but beneficial. We are too apt to get 
into a rut in life's w r ork. Too apt to be- 
come parrots. To repeat set phrases to 
each prospect regardless of his business and 
environment. 

Many a man has been w r ritten for a 
smaller policy than he wanted and would 
have purchased had he been given the oppor- 
tunity. How T few of us ever tax ourselves 
to the fullest capacity. How often has this 
fact been demonstrated by the occurrence 
of something very unusual in the course of 
our career which calls for the exertion of 
that previously undiscovered strength, phys- 
ical and mental, which really caused us to 
find ourselves. 

Recently I had occasion to visit a shingle- 



[57] 



Xife Insurance Salesmansbip 

and saw-mill in order to interview the man- 
ager. While waiting for the interview, I 
stopped at the door of the mill. Just in- 
side stood several men at work. Two were 
feeding blocks to the shingle saws, others 
were edging shingles, and still others were 
weaving or packing shingles. I could not 
but stand in silent admiration as I watched 
these men perfectly oblivious of my pre- 
sence, so busily was each engaged in doing 
his part of that work. Each acted with 
the same precision and accuracy as did the 
machinery he attended. Never a stroke of 
the machinery or a revolution of the saw 
was made in vain. Seemingly man and 
machine were measuring strength of en- 
durance and accuracy of movement. As I 
gazed I wondered at the intense application 
of these men, who, seemingly from choice, 
were lost to all the world but that especial 
task. 

While I continued to gaze in wonderment, 

my party came and I inquired if mere wages 
[58] 



Simplification 



for labor performed was the sole incentive 
for such concentration of energy and effort. 
He informed me that each day these expert 
men endeavored to outdo the previous day's 
work and that the men at the saws had 
won the reputation of being the champions 
of that lumbering district. 

This magnificent object-lesson of earnest, 
diligent effort still lingers in my memory. 
Such large, robust, healthy men, entirely 
lost to the world for ten hours each day 
with every energy bent upon the outdoing 
of yesterday's achievements ! What a force- 
ful example of amplification. 

If each solicitor took himself to his work 
each morning bent as earnestly upon the 
same mission and would put forth the same 
diligent effort as these saw-mill men, what 
results he would accomplish as compared 
with the average day's returns. 



[59] 



CHAPTER XI 
COMPETITION 

" When people see chips on a man's 
shoulder, they are apt to think they fell 
off a block-head." 

Viewed as an incentive to greater effort, 
competition is to be desired. It acts as a 
milestone by which we may determine the 
progress we are making individually. It 
applies the law of comparison and spurs us 
to greater action. If applied in a friendly 
manner it lends zest to your competitor 
quite as much as yourself. It enables you to 
take your true measure of accomplishment. 

Under such conditions it is to be en- 
couraged. As such its benefits must be 

shared with your competitor, but by all 
[60] 



Competition 



means avoid as much as possible competi- 
tion with another company or its rep- 
resentatives. If you are confronted with 
another company's policy or figures, admit 
their good points, say what good things you 
can for them, but leave the rest unsaid. It 
will prove most profitable and pleasant to 
you in the end. 

Emerson gave us the true full measure 
of human nature w T hen he said : 

" If you meet a hostile partisan, never 
recognize the dividing lines, but meet on 
what common ground remains, if only that 
the sun shines for both. What low, poor, 
paltry, hypocritical people, an argument on 
religion will make of the pure and chosen 
souls. The natural motives of the soul are 
so much better than the voluntary ones 
that you will never do yourself justice in 
dispute." 

A short time ago a prominent United 
States Senator was billed to speak on po- 
litical issues in this city. The Governor of 
[61] 



Xife Unsurance Salesmanship 

the State of which the Senator was a guest, 
not agreeing with his views, made a public 
personal attack upon him, questioning his 
personal motives, etc. The city in general 
was stirred. The Senator upon his arrival 
was shown an account of the attack and 
urged to express his opinion regarding it. 
His only reply was, " I discuss issues not 
men." He then proceeded to show himself 
a master in discussing issues. The result 
was marvellous. Public indignation was 
let loose on the Governor who had usurped 
the authority of his high office and lowered 
the dignity of the same in the minds of the 
people. 

In this case, the greatness of the man 
reared far above personalities and he car- 
ried his audience entirely away from im- 
mediate surroundings and riveted their 
attention on the subject he had come to 
discuss. 

Few people enjoy hearing harsh or un- 
kind things said about others, even though 
[62] 



Competition 



they are not directly concerned therein. 
Humanity is prone to be kind-hearted and 
agreeable. If you are drawn into competi- 
tion with another agent, retire until he has 
presented his case, or if you have the first 
hearing, ask to be heard uninterrupted, and 
then gracefully withdraw and trust to the 
intelligence and fairness of your applicant. 
As I review my personal experience in 
beginning, and recall how I went forth with 
a chip on my shoulder I can see that I 
gained nothing thereby, and I fear I often 
lost business which I would have gained 
had I taken the opposite course. Dif- 
ference in policy contracts is what dis- 
tinguishes individual companies and so long 
as there are competing companies, just so 
long will we have these conditions to con- 
tend with. The more generous you can be 
toward your competing agent and his com- 
pany, the greater will be your reward. Life 
is too short, your business is too pressing, 

and your clients are too busy to waste time 
[63] 



Xffe Insurance Salesmansbtp 

in arguing demerits in either policy, agent, 
or company. Oftentimes, you can add your 
policy to those already carried by your 
prospect by making a true comparison of 
policies and companies. This, however, is 
comparison, not competition, and if done 
honestly has strengthened rather than weak- 
ened the faith of your applicant in life 
insurance in general. You have assisted 
him in building, have added ballast to his 
ship of commerce which enables him to sail 
forth more securely on the voyage of life. 
Be courteous, considerate, and kindly dis- 
posed toward your competitors at all times. 



[64] 



CHAPTER XII 

THE ETHICS OF IT 

" Could man be secure 

That his days might endure 

As of old, for a thousand long years— 
What things might he know 
What deeds might he do 

And all without hurry or care." 

Nature never was known to stand still. 
Life is in constant motion. Man is gov- 
erned in his progressive development by the 
same great natural laws that govern all 
vegetable and animal life. We must stead- 
ily improve or decay. This applies to the 
physical, the mental, and the moral man. 
That same omnipotent hand that causes the 

blade of grass to spring up and wilt down 
5 [65] 



%itc Unsurance Salesmanship 

again; that causes the great and mighty 
oak to draw and accumulate such a vast 
amount of the woody elements of nature and 
then gradually decline, relax its firm hold, 
and give them back again; that same great 
law of laws that controls everything in 
the universe from the beautiful, fragrant 
flowers to the great planetary system, has 
destined that man must have his rise and 
fall. Or in other w T ords, he must continue 
to rise, or he will fall. Constant daily 
nourishment and exercise are necessary to 
a perfect physical development. The same 
is true of the mental and moral man. The 
moment you cease to add to your store of 
knowledge and duly develop that already 
acquired, that moment you commence to 
decline mentally. You commence to forget, 
as we usually term it. The moment you 
cease to add to and develop the moral 
man that very moment you commence to 
decline. You cease to see so much to re- 
form in your daily routine. Life's respon- 
se] 



TTbe Etbics of 1ft 



sibilities begin to weigh less heavily upon 
you and you gradually relax into a mere 
matter-of-course state of existence. This 
marks the critical turning-point in the 
career of all human endeavor. This is not, 
however, a necessary sequence in human 
careers. William Ewart Gladstone, Edward 
Everett Hale, Tolstoi, and many others, are 
brilliant examples of men who continued 
to grow mentally and morally even through 
their declining physical days. The moment 
man reaches a state of self-satisfaction 
in his work that moment he has come to 
a stand, and if he lingers long at this 
point his course will reverse and he will 
commence to descend the incline of human 
endeavor which he, up to this time, has 
been so steadily climbing, and by all natural 
laws, his descent will be much more rapid 
than was his ascent. As he ascended, gravi- 
tation was working against him, retarding 
his progress, but as he descends he joins 

forces with her and is carried down with 
[67] 



Xife Insurance Salesmanship 

very increased momentum until he soon 
reaches such a speed that all hope of self- 
recovery from the standpoint of overcoming 
and checking these downward forces is 
beyond him and he is carried on in the 
drift. 

All great achievements have been won 
by men who determined early in life to 

BE MASTERS OF THEIR FUTURE; who Were 

not content with their present, even though 
they had risen above the average in their 
vocation. They knew they could not stand 
there. They had either to continue to 
climb to greater achievements or gradually 
slip back. When they had attained a cer- 
tain set mark they were not satisfied. They 
had learned well the lesson that the trend 
is either forward or backward, upward or 
downward on this great incline of life. 

How often you meet men in all walks 
of life still in their prime of vigor and 
possibilities who will relate to you their 

past achievements. The things have no 
[68] 



TTbe JEtbtcs of ft 



doubt been done by them, but their present 
conditions do not bear evidence of them. 
Why tliis present condition? They stopped 
on the incline satisfied because they had per- 
haps passed their fellows and were above 
the average climber. In this pause they 
lost their hold on self-mastery and began 
to steadily slide back down the incline and 
they are still sliding. They have perhaps 
been met and passed by many of this under- 
average whom they outclassed earlier in 
their careers, but who are still steadily 
climbing and are daily becoming stronger 
by the climb. The moment we assume the 
self-satisfied condition in life, that moment 
we are in peril of losing sight of the steep 
incline upon which we are making our as- 
cent and are in danger of relaxing the firm 
grip upon the branches of human endeavor 
which are firmly rooted by the wayside and 
to which we must constantly cling if we 
continue our upward climb. 

But as we desire to treat mainly of the 

[69] 



Xife Insurance Salesmanship 

ethical side of this subject, the question 
naturally arises in connection with the 
above facts — what of it? Suppose a man 
tires of the climb, is he not at liberty to 
quit? And if he quits, who is the loser? 
In short, what, if any, is man's moral 

OBLIGATION TOWARD HIS FELLOW-MAN? What 

if anything, has humanity lost by his hav- 
ing discontinued the climb? Does any 
moral obligation rest upon the individual 
in the performance of his duties in his 
daily struggle for existence? To answer 
these questions we must determine the 
following : 

Could a man living alone and apart from 
the rest of humanity be moral? The mo- 
ment you remove an object from all its 
surroundings, that moment you destroy its 
identity. A truth is a truth only in so 
far as you can apply it. If a tree falls 
in the forest a thousand miles distant from 
you, to you there is no sound. Action re- 
quires a proper receptacle to make it 
[70] 



XTbe Etbics of ft 



such. A message is ticked off on a wire- 
less instrument, but there is no receiving 
instrument. Was a message sent? Man is 
moral or immoral only in so far as his con- 
duct is comprehensively received by his 
fellow-man. You may repeat in a tongue 
foreign to me the most obscene language, 
but to me you are still moral, if I pre- 
viously knew you as such. Only as we 

CONVEY TO OTHERS AN IMPRESSION OF OUR 
ACTIONS ARE WE ETHICALLY EXISTING. 

Whether we really are moral at all de- 
pends entirely upon what construction time 
and custom place upon our daily actions 
and utterances. Nations experience con- 
stant changes in their moral codes. There- 
fore, ethically, we owe everything, even our 
existence, to those with whom we come in 
daily contact. 



[71] 



CHAPTER XIII 

THE ETHICAL AGENT 

An agent is ethically successful only as 
he is favorably compared with another per- 
forming like duties. If an agent is success- 
ful only in so far as his labors performed 
compare favorably with another's, and his 
company's attitude and accomplishments 
are dependent entirely upon its comparison 
with those of other companies, how for- 
cibly THE FACT IS IMPRESSED UPON US THAT 

this is A very large world. No one man 
has ever yet seen all of it. There are so 
many people in it that one cannot even 
comprehend their numbers, let alone seeing 
them personally. What a small part the 
individual plays in the daily activities of 

[72] 



Ube JEtbical Hgent 



lni inanity. How soon the greatest states- 
man, scientist, and genius is lost sight of 
once he drops out of life's race. He is 
noticed only as a flower in passing, and 
is missed as little by humanity as it stead- 
ily moves on up the path of progress. In 
view of all this, how pitiful a sight to see 
a man who has curbed his views of life 
and his life-work down to the narrow con- 
fines of self; one who cannot see in any 
undertaking with which he is not identified 
any good whatever; one who has im- 
prisoned his usefulness in a glass cage and 
as he looks beyond at the passers-by who are 
outclassing him in life's race, in his nar- 
row view of self-preservation, throws the 
missile at his self-designated intruder and 
thereby shatters his fondest hopes, destroys 
at one blow his own builded ideals. 

Not long ago my attention was called to 
a man who has had years of experience 
in insurance salesmanship and who has 

branded himself with this one remark, 
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Xffe f nsurance Salesmanship 

" There is one God and one life insurance 
company." What a sad spectacle. Were 
his statement true, what a transgression 
from his natural laws the Creator must 
have made in this instance. 

In commerce, manufacture, industry, 
and agriculture, in fact in all lines of in- 
dividual, industrial, scientific, and educa- 
tional work we are confronted with the 
many, rather than the few, and are grate- 
ful for conditions that will lend spur and 
incentive to human endeavor and make for 
advancement. Why this deviation from the 
natural laws in this particular field? Is 
the system of life insurance so perfectly 
builded that there is no room for improve- 
ment? Is it such a business that the spur 
of competition is not required in its prose- 
cution? In short, is the business of life 
insurance conducted on any different prin- 
ciples than any other business, or is our 
friend laboring under a sad delusion? If 

in this delusion he should cast a missile 
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ZTbe Etbical agent 



at a passer-by, lie only destroys the struc- 
ture he has builded about himself in his 
false endeavor to build his own business 
by destroying another's. Should not this 
be a lesson to us and lead us to take a 
broader view of life and its work? Do not 

LOSE SIGHT OF THE FACT THAT THERE WERE 
LIFE INSURANCE COMPANIES AND AGENTS DO- 
ING BUSINESS YEARS BEFORE YOU AND I WERE 
BORN, AND THERE WILL STILL BE MANY DOING 
A GREATER BUSINESS CENTURIES AFTER WE 

are dead. Consider what a small con- 
tribution you and I make to this great hu- 
man mass. How seemingly insignificant 
our donation of endeavor and how little 
would we be missed were we to drop out of 
the race. Take a broader view than our 
deluded friend and be generous. Consider 
the loss to humanity were his statement 
true. One life insurance company could 

NO MORE SUCCESSFULLY SUPPLY THE NEEDS 
OF THE HUMAN RACE, THAN ONE APPLE 

TREE COULD SUPPLY THEM WITH THE 

[75] 



Xife Insurance Salesmanship 

sustenance of life. The moment that 
you discover that yourself and your com- 
pany are only one and a small part of this 
great system for the distribution of human 
comforts, that moment you have entered 
upon a greater field of endeavor. That mo- 
ment you have broadened your horizon and 
will launch your craft of endeavor upon 
a greater ocean of usefulness. Consider 
yourself and your company as an individual 
part of one great system that is daily con- 
tributing to the good of humanity. That 
with the fall of this cause as a whole must 
fall its individual parts. That when we 

Utter DEROGATORY STATEMENTS AGAINST ANY 

part of this system we are uttering them 
against our own part. What opinion do 
you usually form of the banker, the mer- 
chant, or other business man who attempts 
to build his business by tearing down that 
of his competitor? 

The " twister " is usually a man who has 

not studied his own company's contracts 
[76] 



Ubc jetbical Hcjent 



sufficiently to have found enough good in 

them to furnish him with sufficient talking 
material for a thorough canvass, therefore 
applies himself to misconstruing the poli- 
cies of other companies already on the 
ground. New York has a law making it 
a criminal act to deliberately twist life in- 
surance policies. The better class of life 
insurance solicitors have waited anxiously 
and patiently for such an innovation and 
it is to be hoped that it will be promptly 
copied by every State in this country. 

You look with contempt upon the man 
who enters your home or place of business 
in the night and steals your valuables. Yet 
he is a prince beside the man who ap- 
proaches you under the guise of a friend 
and adviser and induces you to give up a 
contract which you have carried a number 
of years, and in which you have invested 
your hard-earned savings, and through 
placing confidence in his honesty and judg- 
ment, you forfeit the advantages which you 
[77] 



Xife insurance Salesmanship 

have been gaining during the years you 
carried this contract. I challenge any 

MAN TO SHOW HOW HE CAN BETTER THE 
CONDITION OF A HOLDER OF A POLICY IN ANY 
LEGAL RESERVE COMPANY AFTER THAT HOLDER 
HAS PAID ONE ANNUAL PREMIUM BY IN- 
DUCING HIM TO SURRENDER THAT CONTRACT 
AND REPLACE IT WITH THAT OF ANY OTHER 
COMPANY. 

It is oftentimes true that a man may, 
and does, through ignorance of the different 
policies, choose a contract not at all fitted 
to his business and family needs. But it 
is also true that this man could exchange 
this contract in the company in which he 
is now insured for the policy which he de- 
sires and considers better adapted to his 
conditions, and thus save what he has al- 
ready invested, together with his age and 
rating. With this fact known to the agent, 
he assumes a position worse than that of 
a night robber when he intentionally and 

deliberately twists this man's hard-earned 
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XTbe Btbfcal UQcnt 



savings. Better had lie stolen the man's 
child's penny-bank savings, and taken on 
his true guise — A night raider — which he 
really is. 

Right here is where I desire to emphasize 
the ethical. If the agent honestly ques- 
tions the permanency of a policyholder's 
interest in any company, better safeguard 
his interests by selling him additional in- 
surance. Not one man in a hundred in this 
country carries insurance in proportion to 
his income. The same effort that is put 
forth by the twister in tearing down and 
destroying builded faith in the system of 
life insurance would sell the additional in- 
surance and then should the original con- 
tract ever be proven not permanent, you 
have safeguarded in the truest and noblest 
sense the policyholder's interests, and how 
much more self-respect can be carried with 
such a course. 

An agent's duty does not end with the 
mere sale of a policy. An ordinary work- 

[79] 



Xife flnsurance Salesmanship 

man can do the common and rough work 
in all lines, but it requires the skilled me- 
chanic, musician, painter, or sculptor to 
appeal to the ethical in you. Agents with 
ordinary training, or with no training at 
all, can occasionally sell a policy, but to 
mould the opinion of the buyer requires more 
skill, more finish, and more careful appli- 
cation and study. The average purchaser or 
holder of a policy is not sufficiently versed in 
the subject of insurance to enable him to dis- 
cern the correctness of the statements made 
by the twister and he is prone to accept 
them as true. The average business man 
of more than ordinary intelligence is too 
apt to place upon your explanations his 
personal opinions of what a policy should 
contain, and later confront you with the 
statement that you gave such an explana- 
tion. If you consider well the vagueness 
with which the average man accepts your 
statements, you will see the importance of 

thoroughness just at this point in your 
[80] 



Ube JEtbical Hgent 



work. Here your ethical duty commences. 
You owe your applicant value received 
for the premium paid, and you have not 
delivered value received until he so clearly 
and fully appreciates the true nature of 
the transaction that you have safeguarded 
his interests against the intrusion of the 

NIGHT RAIDER — THE TWISTER. 

As well place in the hands of a man a 
gun with which to defend his family against 
ravaging beasts and leave him perfectly 
ignorant of the methods of using it. The 
true use of the gun is protection to his 
family against all intruders — man or beast. 
The true object of the policy is protection 
to his family against want. When you 
place in the hands of the insured a policy, 
it ethically devolves upon you to so fit your 
man that he can meet and withstand the 
ravages of the human tiger who would grasp 
from him this greatest w T eapon of defence 
and support to li is family. You have ger- 
minated in this man's mind the ethical lying 
6 [81] 



%iic insurance Salesmanship 

dormant there. It now devolves upon you to 
develop and strengthen it sufficiently to 
enable him to withstand all invasion of the 
intruder. 

This requires care and system in your 
w r ork. Complicated explanations must 

BE AVOIDED. DO NOT TRY TO TELL HIM TOO 

much about the contract. Better a few 
of the vital and strong points of the policy 
thoroughly explained and understood. This 
requires broad liberal views on the part of 
the agent — views which convince you that 
no one company can ever monopolize this 
great business. Views which enable you 

TO SEE AND RECOGNIZE A FELLOW-WORKER 

rather than a competitor — that enable you 
to acknowledge the rights of your fellow- 
worker to a fair chance for business — views 
broad enough to enable you to see through 
and beyond the mist of self-gain the in- 
terests of the insured. Broad enough to 
thoroughly impress upon you the fact that 

you cannot conscientiously advise a 
[82] 



Ubc JEtbtcal Hgent 



policyholder to surrender a policy upon 
which lie lias paid one annual premium 
AND hope to kenefit him by such a change. 
Broad enough to enable you to see beyond 
the bounds of self-interest far enough to 
realize that every policyholder is the con- 
version of another mind to a belief in the 
greatest factor to-day in our civic na- 
tional development, and that such a con- 
version has made much easier the conversion 
of his neighbor upon whom you may be 
laboring. 

Developments during the last few years 
have done much towards causing the great- 
est national awakening in the ranks of the 
agency forces. Such utterances as are be- 
ing daily heard from Presidents of the Na- 
tional Association of Life Underwriters, 
and many others, are indications of this. 
They are forerunners of reforms such as 
will revolutionize the methods and attitudes 
not only of the agency and field forces, but 

of companies in general. Such as will 
[83] 



Xlfe Unsurance Salesmanship 

demonstrate that none other than the 
ethical is practical. That in all lines of 
endeavor the honest and upright is always 
the gainer. That according to all natural 
human laws one must be a real producer, 
a real contributor to human progress, in 
order to lay claim to compensation. That 
value received is humanity's just require- 
ment for what she renders. That sooner or 
later every unjust act reacts with increased 
power upon the author. That an agent 

CAN LOOK BEYOND THE RANGE OF HIS OWN 
PURSE STRINGS AND NOT LESSEN HIS POS- 
SIBILITIES THEREBY. 



[84] 



CHAPTER XIV 
THE ETHICAL COMPANY 

A com pax y is ethical in its methods only 
in so far as these methods when compared 
with the methods of other companies are 
favorable to the policyholders. With very 
few exceptions, an agency is a true reflec- 
tion of its company. From its methods 
you can accurately judge of the company's 
attitude upon almost any question. This 
is due largely to the fact that a company 
moulds the opinion of its agency largely 
through its literature and daily business 
dealings with it. 

Evidence of this is found in the stock 

arguments of certain agencies the country 

over. Go into any State and study the 
[85] 



Xife Unsurance Salesmansbip 

methods and stock arguments of a partic- 
ular company and you can go to the other 
extreme end of the country and there you 
Avill find the same stock-in-trade. This is 
as it should be. This is true not only in 
insurance, but in all lines of trade. If you 
desire to know the exact quality and nature 
of a certain line of goods, you naturally 
turn to the establishment manufacturing 
them. The average agency force is, and 
will continue to be, just what its company 
wants it to be and makes it. Occasionally, 
there may be an individual exception, but 
in such cases this individual will seek more 
congenial relations. 

If the moulding of an agency force is in 
the hands of the respective companies, to 
whom are Ave rightfully to look for results? 
To whom must the public look for reforms? 
Allowing for the occasional exception, who 
is responsible for prevailing conditions? 
The recent legislative investigations an- 
swered this question in a practical manner. 
[86] 



Ube Btbtcal Company 



They called to account, not the various 
agency forces, but the companies. They 
went to the fountain-head of the business. 

When companies are ready to place the 
business of insurance upon the most ethical 
basis it will become such. When a com- 
pany has determined that its agency force 
shall adopt certain ethical methods, they 
will adopt them. Nothing was ever known 

TO REMAIN LONG UNDER UNFAVORABLE CON- 
DITIONS. Twisting, misrepresentation, and 
dishonesty will be discontinued as soon as 
companies effectively stamp their disap- 
proval upon them, but as long as companies 
continue to place in the hands of their 
agencies the material with which to mis- 
represent and twist, just so long will these 
obnoxious practices continue. As long as 
companies continue to place in the hands 
of agents special board contracts based en- 
tirely upon estimates, just so long will pub- 
lic confidence continue to be abused. Such 
unfair methods in the conduct of an agency 



[87] 



Xffe ITnsurance Salesmanship 

force cannot but react to the detriment of 
their author and perpetrator. 

To a great extent the education of public 
opinion on this subject is in the hands of 
the companies. What a reform could be 
worked in a short time in public sentiment 
if some united effort were made to give this 
subject the prominence and position due it 
in the daily press. 

The money annually expended by life in- 
surance companies in pamphlets, circulars, 
etc., is ample to furnish each policyholder 
with an up-to-date daily paper. How effec- 
tively would such a move educate and 
familiarize the public with the companies 
and the groundwork of this commodity. 
We of this generation will not see such an 
innovation, but it is destined to be one of 
the future safeguards of this, the most 
sacred commodity held by a people in 
common. 

The only direct way to safeguard legisla- 
tion and the common interests is to fully 
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TLbc JEtbical Company 



acquaint holders in common with the essen- 
tials and facts pertaining to such interests. 
The interests of the policyholders of the 
individual companies are always common 
interests. There is a common ground, 
upon which the multitude of policyholders 
centre and only when this common ground 
has been located and utilized will the 
greatest good to the individual company 
and policyholders have been accomplished. 

The possibilities of moulding public opin- 
ions and shaping legislation through the 
daily press are unlimited. Public conscience 
is sensitive and readily adjusted to right 
thinking and fair dealing at once the facts 
are well understood. Never was there a 
greater opportunity than at the present 
time to correct prevailing public opinion 
and direct public utterances along right 
lines. 

When men of such national prominence 

as Senator LaFollette stand in the halls 

of our National Legislature and accuse the 
[89] 



%iic flnsurance Salesmansbip 

companies of acting in conjunction with 
Wall Street and conspiring for the manipu- 
lation of funds for the purpose of bring- 
ing on national panics and offers as proof 
the fact that " a certain company requested 
that moneys paid in premiums be remitted 
from .branch offices to the home office/' the 
question may be fairly asked: To whom 

IS SUCH IGNORANCE OF THE DETAIL OF THIS 
GREATEST BUSINESS EXTANT TO-DAY, DUE? 

Has the public been given the opportunity 
to acquaint itself with the management 
of this great business? Or have they 
been held in ignorance of the principles of 
the business for which they are annually 
investing more millions of dollars than for 
any other one commodity? Is such ig- 
norance as that displayed by Senator La- 
Follette due to the inability of the average 
public to learn of the principles and 
methods under which the business is con- 
ducted? Are they ignorant of the real 

situation through no fault of theirs? I 
[90] 



TLhe Etbtcal Company 



venture to say that had Senator LaFollette 
displayed a similar ignorance of any other 
line of American business in which the 
public are as universally interested as pur- 
chasers he would have lost beyond recovery 
all rights to further patronage at the hands 
of an intelligent public. 

Why were his statements regarding life 
insurance passed over so lightly? Because 
the average reader is not sufficiently posted 
on this subject to know T whether or not 
he stated facte. Ethically, a responsibility 
rests upon some one for the above condi- 
tions. There is a remedy. An intelligent 
reading and patronizing public are suscep- 
tible to a more familiar understanding of 
existing conditions and so long as present 
conditions prevail, the life insurance com- 
panies and their agencies must continue to 
be misinterpreted, misjudged, and misused 
at the hands of a patronizing public and 
their legislative bodies. 



[91] 



CHAPTER XV 
THE ETHICAL PUBLIC 

A policyholder is ethical in relation to 
insurance only in so far as he contributes 
to his community's best interests. Govern- 
ment places upon man certain duties as 
a contribution to public welfare. He is 
legally obligated to recognize this welfare 
of his community at large, even at times 
under self-sacrifice. 

Many a man has paid in taxes the money 
which he really needed with w T hich to clothe 
and feed his family, and yet he does so feel- 
ing amply repaid for such sacrifice from 
the fact that in return he enjoys the pro- 
tection of government necessary to his best 

interests. 

[92] 



Ube ]£tbtcal public 



Society also places upon one certain 
obligations. The mandates of government 
are final and can be enforced, even with 
harshness. Society, however, appeals to 
rather than commands. That which we 
purchase the government says must be paid 
for. That which we accept or receive from 
society requires its equivalent in return. 

The young man who starts out in life 
is legally required to pay for that which 
he requires. Food, clothing, and other 
necessities of life are at his command only 
as he can purchase them, and so long as 
he is able he is required to purchase, other- 
wise he becomes a menace. 

The man who assumes the responsibilities 

of a family is legally required to support 

them, but ethically, his duty does not end 

here. Governments have come to recognize 

that what is to the best interests of the 

community at large is usually to the best 

interest of the individual and his family. 

He must not only see that his children are 
[93] 



Xife insurance Salesmanship 

well fed and clothed, but lie must also see 
that they are properly educated and in this 
way contribute to the higher citizenship of 
his community. 

The public-school system of this coun- 
try is ethical. All property-owners con- 
tribute to its support, regardless of whether 
they have children to educate or not. All 
children are granted the privileges of an 
education regardless of whether their par- 
ents are tax-payers or not. Not the indi- 
dividual, but the community interests are 
taken into consideration and in this way 
the individual is best served. What prac- 
tical use could a citizen's family make of 
a liberal education if they alone were edu- 
cated? In order for an individual to enjoy 
and make the most practical use of any- 
thing it is necessary that those with whom 
you are in daily contact must comprehend 
and appreciate it. Of what use would 
money be to you if those with whom you 

deal did not share with you an appreciation 

[94] 



Zbc JEtbical public 



of its value? This is the ethical principle 
upon which all forms of government are 
founded. I believe the day is not far 

DISTANT WHEN EACH PROPERTY-OWNER AND 
ABLE-BODIED WAGE-EARNER W T ILL BE COM- 
PELLED TO CONTRIBUTE THROUGH TAXES, OR 
OTHERWISE, AN EQUITABLE PORTION OF HIS 
EARNINGS TOWARDS MAKING SUITABLE PRO- 
VISION FOR JUST OBLIGATIONS IN EVENT OF 

death — and why not? Simple charity is 
not always ethical. 

What moral right has an able-bodied 
wage-earner to neglect to provide for his 
family in event of his death, more than he 
has to neglect to educate and clothe and feed 
them while he is living? What moral right 
has an able-bodied man or woman who has 
become a self-supporting wage-earner to 
neglect to make suitable provision for ex- 
penses incurred through sickness and death, 
more than he or she would have to neglect 
to pay other obligations incurred while 
living? 



[95] 



CHAPTER XVI 
LEGISLATION 

So long as insurance companies are gov- 
erned by State laws and so long as the 
public elects the lawmakers they have a 
duty which ethically takes them beyond the 
mere purchasing of a proper amount and 
kind of insurance. The public enact laws 
to protect their homes against the robber 
and house-breaker. 

More men own insurance policies than 
homes. It devolves upon them to so legis- 
late that this property is properly pro- 
tected against the vicious legislator who 
has found insurance companies easy prey 

to vicious legislation and thereby draws 
[96] 



Xegislation 



from their funds the policyholders' hard- 
earned savings. 

A few years ago, a mortgage-tax law was 
enacted in Michigan and several other 
States. The object of this law was to com- 
pel the money-loaner to pay taxes on this 
form of property, but the public soon awak- 
ened to the fact that the 1 money-borrower 
was paying the tax by special agreement, 
or else he was not borrowing. 

Many States have enacted laws taxing 
life insurance companies. Such taxes must 
be paid by the policyholder from his policy 
earnings. A company recently ruled that 
the policyholders of a State which recently 
enacted laws taxing that company must pay 
this tax alone from their dividend earnings. 
And now comes a ruling from the Commis- 
sioner of Internal Revenue that dividends 
paid by mutual and participating com- 
panies to their policyholders are subject to 
assessment as income under the corpora- 
tion tax law. Hundreds of thousands of 
7 [97] 



Xtfe Insurance Salesmanship 

dollars are thus taken from the policy- 
holders through the legislation of men sent 
to Washington to legislate for them. 

Here are parallel instances of legislation 
against public policy. Ethically, man should 
be encouraged and protected in his endeavor 
to remove himself and family beyond the 
necessities of public assistance. No other 
one commodity contributes to this end so 
much as life insurance. It induces the 
wage-earner to lay by a portion of his daily 
earnings for future emergencies. He should 
receive every possible encouragement, rather 
than discouragement. 

Public conscience has slumbered long and 

soundly over this, the most vital element 

in AMERICAN home-building, and should be 

so forcibly awakened as to prevent further 

slumber at least until such time as every 

American home is amply protected and the 

poor-house and alms-giving institutions are 

replaced with this, a higher, nobler, and 

more inspiring form of assistance — that of 
[98] 



Xegislatton 



aiding and encouraging the masses to prac- 
tise frugality and foresight in self-preserva- 
tion. Until then the "Ethics of It" will 
not have been fully realized. 



[99] 



CHAPTER XVII 

INSTALMENT INSURANCE 

A man may carry a large amount of in- 
surance and still not amply protect his 
family. This is fully and sadly illustrated 
in the following narrative: A few years 
ago a young man in the neighborhood of 
thirty years of age was engaged in a gen- 
eral mercantile business in a small town in 
Ohio. He was in -debt, so much so that he 
did not feel able to own a home, but rented 
and put all his business earnings back 
into the business. He carried $ 16,000 insur- 
ance. He died leaving a wife and one child 
about six months old. When his business 
was settled up his entire stock just satis- 
fled his creditors, thus leaving the $16,000 

insurance to his family. When the money 
[100] 



Instalment flnsurance 



was paid to his widow, she, not having had 
previous business experience, naturally went 
to what she considered the best source for 
advice, — a private banker. Upon his advice 
she expended one thousand dollars in the 
purchase of a small home and deposited the 
remaining fifteen thousand with the banker, 
awaiting a suitable investment. Shortly 
after the deposit was made the bank closed 
its doors leaving the widow^ and child des- 
titute. Did this man protect his family? 
As a father and husband — a provider — did 
he provide and protect? Could he have 
done more? His intentions were good, but 
could the protection have been made more 
complete? Yes, in this w T ay: 

The same premium paid for the sixteen 
thousand insurance thus payable in one sum 
in event of his death would have purchased 
at least a twenty thousand instalment insur- 
ance which would have left his widow one 
thousand dollars per year during her life- 
time, or in event of her death previous to the 
[101] 



Xffe flnsurance Salesmansbfp 

payment of the twenty annual instalments, 
the balance of the twenty annual instal- 
ments would have been paid to the child. 

How plainly and forcibly does this in- 
stance of misapplied protection demon- 
strate that a husband's and father's duty 
extends beyond the mere purchase of insur- 
ance. It is the duty of a man to know 
the conditions and privileges contained in 
his contract and how to best apply them. 

Business men are beginning to see the 
fallacy of laboring a whole lifetime in build- 
ing up large estates and then leaving them 
unprotected to inexperienced and depend- 
ent ones. Here is an illustration and in 
contrast with the one just related : 

A few years ago, a banker and wholesale 

merchant of this city was approached for 

perhaps the thousandth time by a solicitor 

and urged to buy insurance. But again his 

answer was, " I do not care to leave large 

sums of money to my inexperienced wife and 

daughters to invest. I am trying to invest 
[102] 



Instalment Insurance 



for them while 1 live." He was shown the 
advantages of the instalment policy. He 
purchased thirty thousand dollars for his 
wife and each daughter. After paying four 
annual premiums he died. This wife and 
these daughters are receiving fifteen hun- 
dred dollars each annually during life. 
This man, though dead several years, is 
providing for his dependent ones yearly 
now, just as he did when living; his family 
are absolutely sure of this income during 
life. This is one of thousands of business 
men who are awakening to the fact that 
protection to dependent and inexperienced 
loved ones means more than insurance car- 
ried. It means protection against want, 
against mistakes of inexperience in invest- 
ing, and against the fraud of the sharper 
always ready to take advantage of the weak 
and inexperienced. 

Recently I listened to an address by a 
Judge of Probate who has had years of 

experience in settling estates. Just pre- 
[103] 



Xife insurance Salesmansbip 

vious to this address, lie had probated an 
estate which consisted entirely of the home- 
stead and a ten-thousand-dollar instalment 
policy. The Judge had never before heard 
of an instalment policy and was impressed 

With the EFFECTIVE AND INEXPENSIVE WAY 
OF PROVIDING AND SELF-ADMINISTERING AFTER 
ONE'S DEATH. 

Ethically, something should be done to 
arouse a slumbering public to the impor- 
tance of knowing the many and far-reach- 
ing BENEFITS Of this, the GREATEST COM- 
MODITY EXTANT. 

Thousands of men who do not own homes 
or real estate carry life insurance as a sole 
means of support for those dependent upon 
them after they are dead. The average man 
of a home knows of the legal disposal of 
such a home in event of his demise and 
provides accordingly while living. Not 

ENOUGH ATTENTION IS GIVEN TO THIS GREAT 

COMMODITY IN THE COLUMNS OF OUR DAILY 

PAPERS AND PERIODICALS. 
[104] 



CHAPTER XVIII 

ASSESSMENTISM 

Legally, man's duty ends when he has 
provided for himself and those dependent 
upon him. Ethically, his duty goes farther. 
His family is entitled to such support and 
protection and his neighbor's family is en- 
titled to the benefit of such an example. 
A business man has no moral right to set 
other than an ethical example to those with 
whom he comes in contact. The drunkard, 
the gambler, etc., are legally restrained from 
setting such examples. Occasional reform 
waves spread over the country. Protests are 
raised against such gambling as lotteries 
and slot-machines and they are legislated 

out of certain communities in order that 
[105] 



Xife flnsurance Salesmanship 

an innocent public may be protected. The 
lottery and slot-machine are mild in their 
operations when compared with the gam- 
bling in insurance that is carried on in 
this country through assessmentism. The 
former gathers in the nickels of those w^ho 
have never been seriously impressed with 
the real responsibilities of life and its 
obligations, but the latter appeals to the 
hard-working, conscientious wage-earners 
who are struggling to support and care for 
those dependent upon them for the real 
sustenance of life. 

The man who drops his nickel in the 
slot-machine does so realizing that he is 
playing with chance and that for which 
he contributes may not be realized. But 
the man who is induced to contribute his 
hard-earned dollar to the assessment insur- 
ance company does so firmly believing that 
he is thereby contributing to the future 
support of those dependent upon his earn- 
ings, and that as surely as he deposits his 
[106] 



Bssessmentfsm 



hard-earned savings just so surely will the 
returns come to bis loved ones in time of 
need. Little does lie realize that he is play- 
ing the slot-machine and that as surely as 
the nickel players cannot realize more than 
is contributed, neither can he and his fel- 
low-contributors realize in death benefits 
more than their contributions, and perhaps 
after he has faithfully made his contribu- 
tion for ten, fifteen, or twenty years, during 
the very prime and vigor of his earning 
power, he suddenly awakens to the sad fact 
that the protection of those dearest to him 
has only been a delusion. That his hard- 
earned contributions can avail him nothing 
and that he has perhaps sacrificed his op- 
portunities of purchasing the real in lieu 
of the imaginary which has flow r n. I think 
the above truly illustrates the present 
condition of members of the defunct assess- 
ment concerns to which they contributed. 
The question naturally arises: Who is 

responsible for such conditions? At first 
[107] 



Xtfe Unsutance Salesmanship 

thought we would answ r er : Those who have 
contributed to their support; but this is 
not always correct. The average wage- 
earner is not a gambler. He is a man 
seriously impressed with the obligations of 
life. He had shunned the slot-machine and 
little realized that he w r as gambling with 
the future of his family's welfare. There 

IS AN ETHICAL OBLIGATION INVOLVED HERE. 

The business man who plays this gamble 
of assessmentism fully realizing that he is 
playing a game of chance and that his 
family's protection therein is but temporary 
has not jeopardized perhaps the future com- 
forts of his own family by the game, for 
he usually provides an amount of sound, 
safe protection in addition to this, but 
he has unconsciously set an example to 
the uninstructed, hard-working wage-earner 
that has deluded him into playing the game. 
This same business man would hesitate to 
influence his fellow-man to play an ordinary 

slot-machine and thus deprive his family of 

[108] 



Bssessmentfsm 



the necessities which the nickel would pur- 
chase. Communities are ethically awaken- 
ing to the evils of this gambling and are 
safeguarding the innocent public against 
such. Several States years ago awakened 
to this evil and for years not an assessment 
company has done business in them. 

Oklahoma has recently cancelled the 
licenses of nineteen fraternal orders and 
eight others have ceased doing business in 
that State. In taking this step Commis- 
sioner of Insurance McComb said: 

" In refusing and cancelling the license 
of a company I am acting solely upon the 
statutes of Oklahoma, and the authority 
vested in me as Insurance Commissioner. 
I would be only too glad to see every insur- 
ance organization of the United States doing 
business in Oklahoma, but unless they can 
come up to the requirements exacted by the 
law, then they must stay out of the State. 
Life insurance is by far too sacred a 

THING TO HAVE IT MADE RIDICULOUS, and it 
[109] 



%itc insurance Salesmanship 

shall not be so long as I am Insurance Com- 
missioner and the statutes what they now 
are. 

" I propose going farther. I shall exercise 
every possible endeavor to accomplish the 
enactment of even more stringent laws than 
those now in force, but in doing so I shall 
not overlook the fact that the companies 
as well as the public are entitled to some 
consideration. In fact I shall seek to have 
only such laws upon our statute books as 
will deal equitably with both company and 
patron, protecting one as well as the 
other, but I shall exact, so long as I am 
in office, a strict adherence to facts and 
honesty. " 

The day is not far distant when the 
gambling insurance institutions will 
have passed with the lottery and the 
public welfare will have been pre- 
served thereby. 

Originally, the sole object of life insur- 
ance was the benefits derived by the bene- 
[110] 



Bssessmenttsm 



ficiary after the death of the insured, but 
ir is becoming more and more an important 
factor in every-day business affairs. A 
greater credit business is done to-day on 
life insurance collateral than any other one 
kind of security. It is being more and more 
recognized as a safe anchorage to all lines 
of business. During the recent panic hun- 
dreds of millions of dollars were loaned to 
policyholders upon the security of their 
policies. Thousands of business men saved 
themselves from receiverships through this 
medium of credit. At this point we get the 
most striking contrast between the real and 
the imitation in insurance. Of what avail 
were all the assessment policies to the busi- 
ness world during this panic? They did 
not strengthen one's credit. They did not 
add to the bank account of a single business 
man. They in no way tended to strengthen 
business conditions nor serve as an anchor- 
age in these troublous times. Creditors 
will not recognize or accept them as se- 



[lli] 



Xffe insurance Salesmanship 

curity. What man can gracefully offer to 
his family, his first and greatest creditor, 
that form of protection not acceptable to 
his other creditors? 



[112] 



CHAPTER XIX 
A POLICY AS PROPERTY 

Suppose you were to approach the aver- 
age young man or young woman wage- 
earner with a proposition something like 
this: 

Here is a house and lot, or a farm, as 
the case may be, worth f 1000. You can 
purchase it on a twenty-year contract under 
the following terms: You pay $50 down 
and take immediate possession and enjoy 
all the benefits therefrom at once. You 
make nineteen future annual payments of 
$50 each. You pay no taxes during the 
term of the contract. You will pay no in- 
terest on the payments due but instead you 
will receive interest on the payments al- 
ready made. You are guaranteed that the 
property will not depreciate in value at any 

8 [113] 



%itc Unsurance Salesmanship 

time. After you have made two or three 
annual payments (as the case may be) 
should you fail, through sickness or other in- 
ability., to continue making your payments, 
or if you should, through business reasons, 
wish to discontinue the contract, you may 
take a deed for such fractional part of the 
original property as you have already paid 
for, or in lieu of such deed you may take 
a certain stated cash value for such interest 
therein as you have established, such cash 
value being the amount you have paid less 
actual cost of taxes and expenses on prop- 
erty during the term you hold possession 
of same. In event of your death during 
the term of the contract your estate shall 
receive a deed for the property in full, the 
same as if all payments had been completed 
on the contract. You have a guaranty that 
at the expiration of the contract period the 
property purchased is worth the original 
contract price. 

This is practically the proposition you 

[114] 



H polics as property 



make to the purchaser of an endowment 
policy, with these additional considerations. 
A young man purchases a policy at his pre- 
sent place of business and if in the course 
of a few years he can better his income and 
conditions by moving to another part of the 
country he has a piece of tangible property 
which he can carry with him and complete 
his payments thereon without in the least 
affecting its original value. In addition to 
this you, as a selling-party to this contract, 
guarantee that should the purchaser desire 
to assign this contract as collateral security 
to any other business deal he might make, 
you will acknowledge and become a party 
to such assignment, thereby guaranteeing 
and endorsing his interests therein at any 
time during the life of the contract. 

When you consider the fact that in addi- 
tion to the exceedingly liberal terms, at no 
time is this form of investment subject to 
taxation, or fluctuation in values as are all 
other forms of investment, can you imag- 



[115] 



Xife flnsurance Salesmanship 

ine any other form of investment that can 
approach it in desirability? Your appli- 
cant will readily admit that were your prop- 
osition real estate or stocks instead of 
insurance, he would purchase without hesi- 
tancy. Why does he sometimes hesitate on 
this form of investment? Merely because 
the terms of an insurance policy are not 
as familiar to him as are the terms used in 
other forms of investment. Herein lies the 
salesman part of the work — to make your 
applicant forget any vague fear he may have 
of insurance terms and consider your prop- 
osition in the common, every-day terms 
used in all other lines of business. If our 
courts desire to converse with a foreigner 
who cannot talk our language they employ 
an interpreter and talk with him in his own 
language. Every life insurance salesman 
is an interpreter, — the person through 
whom the company must converse with men 
in all lines of business in their own 

particular business terms. 
[116] 



CHAPTER XX 
THE CHANGING PUBLIC ATTITUDE 

Woodrow Wilson recently said, " I think 
the spirit of the age is slowly changing." 

As applied to economics and other social 
questions this may be true, but the public 
attitude on life insurance is rapidly chang- 
ing and the reasons are vivid and near at 
hand. 

No one commodity is playing so impor- 
tant a part in the business, social, and moral 
development of this present generation as 
is life insurance. 

Every ship of human enterprise being 
launched upon the great ocean of a world's 
commerce carries ample life insurance bal- 
last, which has been found the most appro- 
[117] 



Xife Unsurance Salesmanship 

priate for many reasons. It has furnished 
real sustenance to more people than any 
other one commodity for the same purchase 
price. It has raised the moral standard of 
more people than any other single purchase 
— anything that creates in the human race 
self-respect, thrift, and industry is a creator 
of moral uplift. The sense of property 
ownership to a young man or woman which 
is created through the purchase of a life 
insurance policy is the greatest force at 
work to-day in the uplift of this nation's 
morals. 

The sense of present and future indepen- 
dence through it causes humanity to walk 
more erect, aspire to greater achievements, 
and thus daily draw from life greater bene- 
fits to one's self and associates. 

No other commodity is doing so much in 
any of these directions as is life insurance. 
The enormousness of the life insurance 
business is just being comprehended by the 
masses. 

[118] 



Ube Cbaufltno public Httitu&e 

A MORAL CODE IS USEFUL TO A PEOPLE ONLY 
IX SO FAR AS THAT PEOPLE CAN APPLY IT. 

Our churches and reformers may con- 
tinue to exhort a people to higher and better 
standards of living, but until the means of 
reaching that standard are placed within 
the grasp of the masses all exhortation is 
in vain. 

The moral uplift gained through the sense 
of proprietorship, ownership, and interest 
in the material sustenance of life and its 
necessities is a working factor for per- 
manent good. These are some of the vital 
reasons for so rapid a change of public 
attitude on the subject of insurance. 

It is only within the past decade that 

insurance has been considered a necessity. 

Previously, it was looked upon as a luxury 

only within the reach of the most wealthy. 

But how radical the change. To-day nearly 

fifty per cent, of all the credit business 

transacted in this country is secured by 

life insurance collateral. Such financial 
[119] 



Xife flnsurance Salesmanship 

reports as Bradstreet and Dun's consider its 
value in taking and giving ratings, and they 
strongly recommend it to the credit public. 
In fact so important a factor has life in- 
surance become in the credit world that it 
is demanded of most men seeking extensive 
credit. 

The greatest business houses of the world 
to-day have come to consider the brain and 

MUSCLE THAT PRODUCE WEALTH OF GREATER 
VALUE THAN THE WEALTH PRODUCED. Busi- 
ness firms are insuring their managements 
in proportion to their earning power, just 
as they insure stocks of goods in proportion 
to their value — and why not? What would 
you think of a manufacturing firm that 
would insure the stock in their warehouses 
surrounding the plant and leave the ma- 
chinery and building in the midst of these 
warehouses uninsured? 

Perhaps the most apt and recent illustra- 
tion of public attitude along this line is 

that of John Wanamaker, Jr., who being 
[120] 



ZTbe Gbanotng public Httttufce 

insured for three and one half millions of 
dollars and wishing to increase this to four 
and one half millions was compelled to 
make personal solicitations among the vari- 
ous Canadian companies in order to obtain 
it. 

And a still more striking example of 
public attitude along this line is the recent 
legislation passed by Wisconsin by which 
that State enters into the life insurance 
business, the business to be conducted 
through the State Insurance Commission- 
er's office. This law authorizes the State 
to issue policies on the lives of its citizens 
in amounts ranging from $500 to $3000, 
with premium based on the American 
Mortality Tables. 

Germany goes a step farther and has in 
operation a practical form of compulsory 
insurance under government direction, and 
with government help, known as the " Old 
Age Pension." 

This plan provides for pensions for the 

[121] 



Xife flnsurance Salesmanship 

sick and disabled and those reaching the 
age of seventy. The amount of the pension 
paid is determined upon the basis of wages 
received by the pensioner while at work, 
and the amount of premiums he has paid 
to the state during his years of labor. In 
1907 there were more than fourteen million 
people insured under this plan. 

The government collects and cares for 
these funds as our government collects 
taxes. In this same year, the government 
paid in old age pensions and disability in- 
surance, $52,750,000. This government 
even goes so far as to tax employers of 
labor and expends the moneys thus collected 
in factory safety appliances and sanitary 
fixtures, thus reducing to a minimum dis- 
ability pensions. 

England has just adopted a plan of com- 
pulsory sick and accident insurance under 
a plan devised by Chancellor Lloyd George. 
This plan is somewhat similar to that of 

Germany, but differing radically in this one 
[122] 



Uhc Changing public BttttuOe 

respect — all women wage-earners are com- 
pelled to contribute to this insurance fund 
while single, but upon marrying, the gov- 
ern men t confiscates these moneys con- 
tributed and all future benefits therefrom 
cease. They are proceeding upon the 
theory that the husbands of these wives 
will support them from that time on. The 
following press comment upon the same 
very strikingly reflects the public attitude 
regarding it: 

" Only twenty-one votes were recorded in 
the House of Commons against the National 
Compulsory Insurance Bill, under which 
some nine million men and four million 
women will receive medical attendance and 
a money allowance during illness, a life 
pension upon becoming permanently dis- 
abled, and in some cases a money allow- 
ance during unemployment. 

" There was very little opposition to this 
insurance bill ; and The Statist, a recog- 
nized authority upon life insurance, pre- 
[123] 



Xife Insurance Salesmanship 

sents a novel argument in its favor. Life 
insurance, The Statist shows, has made big- 
advances in Great Britain of late. Thus, 
in twenty years the number of policies in 
' ordinary ' life companies has increased 
from less than a million to more than three 
millions. At the same time the number of 
policies in ' industrial ' companies — insur- 
ing mostly small-salaried people and wage- 
earners — has increased from less than ten 
millions to more than thirty-three millions 
and the amount of insurance in force from 
ninety million pounds to over three hun- 
dred and thirty millions. This shows, The 
Statist thinks, not only that nearly all 
classes of the British public are in receipt 
of larger incomes, so that a far greater pro- 
portion now has some surplus over actual 
necessaries of life, but also that all classes, 
especially w T age-earners, are more inclined 
than formerly to make provision for the 
future when their means permit. The Na- 
tional Insurance Bill will lighten the dread 
[124] 



Ube Cbangfno public Httitube 

of poverty through sickness and unemploy- 
ment that many wage-earners now feel. Its 
effect will be much the same as assuring 
greater permanence of employment, and 
steadier income ; so more wage-earners than 
ever will take something from the weekly 
pay envelope for insurance other than that 
provided by the national bill. 

" Certainly the whole bread-winning 
population of every country ought to be 
insured." 

I firmly believe the day is not far dis- 
tant when we will see life insurance 
made compulsory in this country, such as 
the old-age pension system of Germany — 
and why not? So long as we have a gov- 
ernment conducted in the best interests of 
the masses it will be necessary to have com- 
pulsory law r s to make some members of the 
community contribute their just share to 
its support. To-day a man who is self- 
supporting is compelled to pay for what 

he uses. A man with a family is compelled 
[125] 



%iic flnsurance Salesmanship 

to support them within his ability to earn. 
All property-owners are compelled to pay 
taxes as a contribution to the community's 
support. Then why not compel a man to 
be frugal, thoughtful, economical, and cau- 
tious during his years of natural vigor and 
thrift and thus provide for his declining 
days? 

What a great moral example of civic 
ethics has Germany set the nations of 
the world in this old-age pension plan. A 
man has no more right to squander the 
earnings of his days of usefulness and ex- 
pect the government to care for him in his 
declining days, than he has to squander his 
week's wages and neglect to pay his board 
bill. The first duty of citizenship is self- 
support. The next duty is support of one's 
country. The obligation of self-support 
cannot be confined to each day and its 
needs, but must encircle one's entire life- 
time in order that an average may be 

secured. I think it was Dante who said, 
[126] 



TLbc Changing public attitude 

u NO GREATER GRIEF THAN TO REMEMBER DAYS 
OF JOY WHEN MISERY IS AT HAND." 

Opinion is widely diversified as to the 
forces through which the careers of nations 
are determined. As a man has outgrown 
the diets of infancy, childhood, boyhood, 
and early manhood, and stands at the 
threshold of maturity demanding that sus- 
tenance satisfying to a strong, muscular, 
vigorous body, so nations pass these stages 
of mental development and thus retain 
their supremacy. 

Something has crossed the pathway of 
the American public. It has not changed 
its ideas materially as to what is exacted 
of the individual citizen of a great nation, 
but it has received an insight into the great 
and fascinating business of life insurance, 
the magnitude of which alone has as- 
tounded it, caused it to stop and consider 
seriously its great power for usefulness in 
the development of a people's welfare. 

The wonder is how any business could 
[127] 



%ifc flnsurance Salesmansbip 

have reached the magnitude of this one and 
not have received more general attention 
from a public standpoint. 

You that have been in the business dur- 
ing the past ten years will appreciate how 
radical these changes in public sentiment 
have been. When I entered the business 
fifteen years ago, the prevailing sentiment 
was that only those who had made a failure 
of everything else took up insurance w r ork 
as a last resort. How radical the change 
in opinion ! Now almost every daily paper 
records some public official or business man 
leaving successful lines of work to enter 
the field of life insurance. These include 
governors, congressmen, clergymen, doc- 
tors, lawyers, and men prominent in all 
lines of work. No longer the failures, but 
the most successful in other vocations are 
turning to life insurance as the most 
promising field of endeavor, all due to the 
rapidly changing public attitude regarding 

the greatness of the business, and the many 
[128] 



Ube Cbanflfng [public Bttttu&e 

uses to which it may be put in business. 
More capital is represented to-day by life 
insurance companies than any other one 
business, railroads not excepted. 

Courses in life insurance are taking the 
most prominent places in the curriculum 
of most of our greatest colleges and univer- 
sities to-day, and the ablest men are among 
those fitting themselves preparatory to 
entering the work. 

You who have had some years of experi- 
ence will realize the benefits of the change. 
Never was the public so susceptible to argu- 
ment and persuasion. The rural districts, 
which ten years ago were barren wastes 
from an insurance standpoint, are to-day 
ripened harvest fields. The average farmer 
knows and appreciates the value of an 
endowment policy from a monetary view- 
point, as well as from a protective stand- 
point. The factory hand appreciates the 
value of this form of savings-bank. The 

business man of foresight and enterprise has 
9 [129] 



Xfte Unsurance Salesmanship 

learned its value in times of panic and 
financial troubles. Thousands of men are 
saved from receiverships and bankruptcy 
each year through this form of business 
anchor. How suddenly and vividly these 
tilings seem to have dawned upon a public 
of so diversified an occupation. 

If such great changes have been wrought 
in a decade or two of continuous exhorta- 
tion, have we not builded well for the fu- 
ture of the business? And after all does 
one's compensation consist entirely of dol- 
lars and cents in hand received? Is not the 
satisfaction of having contributed some- 
thing to this great national awakening of 
public sentiment to the virtues of so great 
a public benefactor some share of our com- 
pensation, and should we not look forward 
to the future with at least a small degree 
of pride in a work well started, if not well 
done? 



[130] 



THE WORLD WONDERS WHY 

One man succeeds and another man fails, 

Each engaged in the self-same task, 
The same conditions for each prevail 

And each is doing his best to grasp 
Success, which goes fleeting by. 

The rest of the world looks on with a sigh : 
The one man succeeds and the other man fails, 

And the world wonders why. 

Each started in life with an even chance, 

Equipped for a brilliant career, 
Determined to grasp success in advance 

Of defeat, with its worry and fear. 
Each man could see as his to command 

A destiny, wrought for a master hand. 
But the one man succeeds, and the other man 
fails, 

And the world wonders why. 

The clock struck the hour ; the one man arose 
And in tune with the world set to work. 

The other man sighs as opportunity goes 
And wonders why he's still but a clerk. 
[131] 



Xife Unsurance Salesmanship 

The one has moved on in tune with the world, 
The other remains with his colors still 
furled : 

The one man succeeds, and the other man fails, 
And the world wonders why. 

There is action in life atune to all nature 

Which is steadily, continuously working. 
One man gets in tune; gets a sight of the 
future, 

The other untuned, is continually shirking. 
The one's life runs smoothly, the other's awry, 

While one is accomplishing, others just try. 
The one man succeeds, and the other man fails, 

And the world wonders why. 

Each man 's given muscle and brain to develop 

The sunshine and shower he must furnish; 
Whether they ever escape from the case which 
envelops 

Them, depends on his ability to nourish. 
One man brings them forth well-nigh 

In perfection, prepared life's struggle to try, 
The other man struggles awhile and fails, 

And the world wonders why. 

The man with resolve is sure of success 
When he measures the task by his strength, 

But he ? d better not start that task, unless 
Good judgment has spanned its whole length 
[132] 



XTbe MorlS Members Mby 

In advance, and he's ready to apply 
Himself against odds that are sure to defy. 

This man will succeed and the other man fail, 
And the world wonders why. 



[133] 



THE SPECTATOR COMPANY 

PUBLISHERS AND IMPORTERS OF 

INSURANCE WORKS, 



Publishers of the Following Important Life Publications: 

A B C OF LIFE INSURANCE.— Price, $1.00. 

ANALYSIS OF POLICY CONDITIONS.— Price, flexible 
leather cover, with flaps, $1.00. 

ANNUAL AND DEFERRED DIVIDENDS.— Dividends paid to 
policyholders for thirty years by life insurance companies on 
ordinary life, twenty-payment life and twenty-year endow- 
ment plan, per $1000, at ages 25, 35, 45 and 55 at date of 
issue. Price, in flexible leather, $1.50. 

ART OF CANVASSING, THE.— HOW TO SELL LIFE IN- 
SURANCE. — By William Miller. New edition, 1912, 
brought up to date; bound in red flexible leather. Price, 
$1.50. 

ASSESSMENT LIFE INSURANCE.— A companion book to 
Elements of Life Insurance. Price, bound in cloth, $1.50. 

CHARTERS OF AMERICAN LIFE INSURANCE COM- 
PANIES. — Showing the charters and amendments thereto of 
sixty-two prominent legal reserve companies. Price, $5.00. 

COMPENDIUM OF OFFICIAL LIFE INSURANCE RE- 
PORTS.— Price, $2.00. 

DIVIDENDS IN LIFE INSURANCE FROM DATE OF OR- 
GANIZATION.— Price, 25 cents. 

ELEMENTS OF LIFE INSURANCE (Revised Edition).— 
Price, $2.00. This publication, with its companion work, 
Assessment Life Insurance, can be purchased for $3.00 
when ordered together. 

HANDY GUIDE TO PREMIUM RATES, APPLICATIONS 
AND POLICIES OF AMERICAN LIFE COMPANIES.— 
In flexible leather cover. Price, $2.50. 

HEALTH AND LIFE INSURANCE TABLES.— By C. J. 
Harvey. Price, $6.00. 

INSURANCE SCIENCE AND ECONOMICS.— By Frederick L. 
Hoffman. This new work is a practical discussion of present 
day problems of insurance administration. Price, $3.00. 

INSURANCE YEAR BOOK, THE.— Issued July of each year. 
Price of each volume: Life and Miscellaneous Insurance, 
$6.00; Fire and Marine Insurance, $6.00; both volumes 
when ordered together, $10.00. 

LIFE AGENTS' PRIMER, THE.— By William Alexander. Ex- 
planatory of the fundamental principles and practices of life 
insurance companies. Price, $1.00. 

LIFE INSURANCE HISTORY, 1843-1910.— Presenting the 
essential details of the annual statements of all existing life 
insurance companies from date of organization to December 
31, 1910. Price, $5.00. 

LIFE INSURANCE LAW CHART.— A summary of State laws 
regarding statutory requirements of life insurance companies 
for permission to do business in each State. Issued annually. 
Price per copy, $3.00. 



LIFE INSURANCE SALESMANSHIP.— By Thomas J. Hender- 
son. A new work of great value, instructive in the art of 
selling life insurance. Price, bound in cloth, $1.00. 

LIFE INSURANCE SAYINGS.— Price, 75 cents. 

LIFE INSURANCE POLICYHOLDERS' POCKET INDEX.— 
(Showing the statistics of level premium companies.) Price, 
manila, 25 cents; flexible leather pocket book, 50 cents. 

NOTES ON LIFE INSURANCE.— The Theory of Life Insur- 
ance practically explained. By Edward B. Fackler. Price, 
$3.00. 

POCKET REGISTER OF LIFE ASSOCIATIONS.— Statistics 
of Stipulated Premium Assessment and Fraternal Insurance. 
Price, in manila, 25 cents; in flexible leather pocket book, 
50 cents. 

PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF LIFE INSURANCE.— A 
scientific treatise on Life Insurance, with valuable tables for 
reference; 1912 edition, containing valuable new tables. 
Price, $10.00. 

PROMINENT PATRONS OF LIFE INSURANCE.— 1911 
edition. Price, bound in cloth, $1.00; in flexible leather, 
$1.25. 

ROMANCE OF LIFE INSURANCE, THE.— By W. J. Graham. 
Giving hints concerning the advantages and benefits of life 
insurance to the general public; also instructions to agents. 
Price, $1.50. 

SELECTION OF RISKS BY THE LIFE SOLICITOR.— By C. 
H. Harbaugh, M. D. Price, 25 cents. 

SPECTATOR, THE. — An American Review of Insurance; pub- 
lished weekly. Price, $4.00 per annum. 

SUCCESSFUL AGENT, THE.— Practical hints for the seller of 
life insurance, by William Alexander, Secretary the Equi- 
table Life Assurance Society. Price, in cloth, $2.00; in 
flexible leather, $2.50. 

SYSTEM AND ACCOUNTING FOR A LIFE INSURANCE 
COMPANY, A.— By J. Charles Seitz. This new work facili- 
tates accurate and constant knowledge of every phase of the 
life business. Price, $25.00. 

TALKS WITH LIFE INSURANCE AGENTS.— Price, cloth, 
$1.50; leather, $2.00. 

THREE SYSTEMS OF LIFE INSURANCE, THE.— (Revised 
edition in press.) Price, bound in leather, $2.50. 

VEST POCKET LIFE AGENTS' BRIEF.— A synopsis of pre- 
mium rates, policy provisions, and net cost of insurance. 
Price in flexible leather binding, $1.00. 

ALSO NUMEROUS OTHER VALUABLE INSURANCE WORKS. 

Sole Agents for all works handled by Chas. & Edwin Layton 
of London. 



A Catalogue of Insurance Publications, with descriptive circu- 
lars of the above works, will be forwarded on receipt of ten 
cents in stamps. Address, 

THE SPECTATOR COMPANY 

^cT e°™, : 1 35 William Street, 

175 W.Jackson Blvd. NEW YORK 



